Visa snag holds up table tennis players' training

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

An eight-strong contingent of table tennis players, due to leave for training in Guangdong, China, on Wednesday, are biding their time until the issuance of their visas.

"We have yet to receive the visas for China," overseas mission team manager Dedi Kurniawan Wikanto said on Wednesday.

"Once the visas are issued, we could leave anytime."

The National Sports Council (KONI) plans to send 12 table tennis players for training in Guangdong until Nov. 24, with eight departing from Jakarta and four from their current training base in Lunan, China.

The training is part of KONI's program to improve medal- winning chances for the 2005 Southeast Asia (SEA) Games in Manila.

The players taking part in the Chinese training are David Jacobs, Yon Mardiyono, Muhammad Hussein, Agus Fredi Pramono, Kunkun Sisdo Mubarat and Reno Handoyo from the men's division, and Ceria Nilasari, Istiyani Lindawati, Christine Ferliana, Santi Fibriyanti, Ruri Raung and Silir Rovani among the women.

Kurniawan said he did not expect major problems in adjustment among the group because most of the players were from clubs with Chinese coaches.

"All the women players have Chinese coaches here so they won't have a communication problem," he said.

Among the male players, Kurniawan said that Yon and David had spent their childhood in China learning to play the sport.

"But the most important thing is they will get top practice partners from Guangdong," he said.

The thriving province of Guangdong is considered a major athlete training center in China, including in table tennis. Ma Lin, the 2004 Olympic men's doubles champions with Chen Qi, is from Guangdong.

According to Kurniawan, the training session in Guangdong was a must to help the athletes compete against opponents from within Southeast Asia, especially after players from Vietnam and the Philippines also trained in China.

Malaysia has also hired a Chinese coach, he added.

The 12 table tennis players are part of a contingent of 82 athletes from six sports set to train in the Chinese province. The other sports are wrestling (12 athletes), archery (12), wushu (13), fencing (22) and shooting (13).

Athletes will be accompanied by 18 national coaches, four foreign coaches and six managers.