Tennis association urged to promote young players

JAKARTA (JP): National tennis coach Deddy Prasetyo urged the Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti) to send young players to the 2001 Kuala Lumpur Southeast Asian (SEA) Games to prepare for the larger goal in the Pusan 2002 Asian Games.

"Indonesia practically has no competition in the region, except for Thailand. So I consider SEA Games as only an intermediary goal to achieve higher achievements in Asiad," he told reporters on Monday.

"Therefore, Pelti should send the youngsters to Kuala Lumpur, especially those with potential for the next four years, instead of old hands."

Pelti announced last week the names of tennis players to be groomed for the Kuala Lumpur Games.

The players are veterans Bonit Wiryawan and Sulistyo Wibowo accompanying Suwandi, Andrian Raturandang, Hendri Susilo Pramono, Febi Widhiyanto, Peter Handoyo, and junior player Eko Kurniawan in the men's side.

In the women's side, Pelti called Yayuk Basuki, Romana Tedjakusuma, Liza Andriyani, Wynne Prakusya in addition to younger players Angelique Wijaya, Dea Sumantri, Wukirasih Sawondari and Frederika Girsang.

"We can't use the centralized training program to prepare our team because each tennis player has his or her own coach who understands better," said Deddy.

"It will be better if Pelti leaves it up to the coaches to set their individual training programs after a discussion with other officials. Pelti then provides all the facilities and financial assistance to support the programs."

Deddy also urged Pelti to give more attention to tennis clubs in various cities in order to groom more young players.

"I believe that our tennis development must emphasize clubs as the base. We must have an intensive interclub tennis league such as in Germany."

"The problem is that we don't have enough money to support the clubs. In return, clubs can't support their players to take part in various tournaments," he said, adding that there were many players with potential without enough financial support.

"Pelti should play its role as a facilitator to provide the facilities and financial support for them, although perhaps not everything," continued Deddy.

He stressed the importance for junior tennis players to have as much tournament experience as possible.

"The junior players don't have to win in the tournaments because the purpose is to evaluate their performance. It's also important to get used to the atmosphere of a tournament," said Deddy.

"The International Tennis Federation (ITF) states in its manual that a junior player needs to play at least 20 times a year. He or she should win three times. Failing that, the player must take part in more tournaments."

Deddy also told reporters of his decision to resign from his post as Pelti's official in charge of juniors development due to a dispute with other officials. (nvn)