Three Pelti chapters want Tanri's ouster

Three Pelti chapters want Tanri's ouster

JAKARTA (JP): Three provincial chapters of the Indonesian
Tennis Association (Pelti) plan to request an extraordinary
congress to replace current association chairman Tanri Abeng, who
has been named a suspect in the Bank Bali scandal.

Pelti spokesman Benny Mailili said representatives from the
Yogyakarta, West Nusa Tenggara and West Java chapters wanted to
ask for the congress.

However, they will need another 14 chapters to make the demand
before the association grants their calls. According to Pelti's
rules, two-thirds of the association's 26 chapters must request
an extraordinary congress before the action is granted.

"I have talked to representatives of provincial sports
councils who are also Pelti officials in their areas. Three
provinces -- Yogyakarta, West Nusa Tenggara and West Java -- will
request an extraordinary congress. I think they have their own
reasons for wanting to replace Pak Tanri," Benny said.

A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, Soehandoyo,
said last month an investigation led by Chairul Imam had found
"enough preliminary evidence" to name Tanri, a former state
minister of the empowerment of state enterprises, and Bank
Indonesia executive Erman Munzir as suspects in the Rp 540
billion (US$75 million) Bank Bali scandal.

Benny said Tanri should have mandated either Pelti secretary-
general Sugeng Sarjadi, official in charge of athlete development
Sudjiono Timan or official in charge of competition Subronto
Laras to take over his job until the end of his working term in
2002.

He also said Tanri should give another mandate to stage an
extraordinary meeting to elect a new chairman. He said new
officials were needed to lessen the internal conflict in the
association so Pelti could move forward and realize its goals.

"Tanri Abeng loves tennis, but in this organization there have
been many conflicts involving officials, whether he is present or
not. To minimize this, he should mandate one of his top officials
to prepare the extraordinary congress," he said.

"But as of today, Tanri has done nothing to settle the
problem. Pelti allows its officials to have differences of
opinion, but we don't want these opinions to split us up," he
added.

Separately, four women tennis players advanced to the
quarterfinals of the $10,000 Women's Circuit at Kemayoran Tennis
Center in Central Jakarta.

However, national player Liza Andriyani was stopped in the
second round on Wednesday. Liza, the 1999 Southeast Asian Games
gold medalist in the team event and the silver medalist in the
doubles event, bowed out 1-6, 1-6 to Chae Kyung-yee of South
Korea.

Veteran player Irawati Moerid Iskandar surprised Thailand's
top player and number-three seed in the event, Benjamas Sangaram,
4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2. Dea Sumantri upset Lee Eun-jeong of South Korea
6-4, 6-4, Angelique Wijaya beat Rushmi Chakravarthi of India 6-1,
6-2, and Wukirasih Sawondari outclassed Marylane Losey of
Switzerland 6-4, 6-0.(ivy)