WHO names tennis star Angie one of its Health Champions
Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The World Health Organization (WHO) representative office in Indonesia appointed Indonesia's tennis starlet Angelique Widjaja on Thursday as its first Health Champion to promote a healthy lifestyle among young people.
"It is a great opportunity for WHO to cooperate with a young athlete like Angelique. She is the perfect model for promoting a healthy lifestyle among young people," WHO representative Dr. Georg Petersen said in his speech.
The six-month contract was signed during a thanksgiving ceremony at the Hotel Hilton Executive Club to celebrate her current success.
Angelique, affectionately known as Angie, won her first major title at the US$170,000 Wismilak International WTA tournament in Bali earlier this month. This boosted her WTA ranking from 579 to 153.
Angie has also made history by becoming the first Indonesian tennis player to grab the Wimbledon's girls singles title.
Petersen told The Jakarta Post that Angie was the first to be appointed as a Health Champion.
"This is a kind of pilot project launched by the WHO office here. If it is successful, we will launch a world wide campaign with more athletes," he said.
"As for Indonesia, we will soon name a male Health Champion chosen from among young athletes. We have already several candidates in mind."
Meanwhile, Angie said she was very happy to be named the Health Champion. Her main duties will include campaigning for a smoke and drugs free environment.
"I want to be a role model for Indonesian young people to stay away from smoking and using drugs. It is part of my social obligation to Indonesian young people to become a volunteer for WHO," she said.
As for her future tennis career, Angie said she had set a target of entering the WTA's best 100 rank.
Spokesman for the Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti), Benny Mailili told reporters that Angie would not find it difficult to reach her target of entering the WTA's best 100 during her tour next year.
"It should not be difficult because she will take part in 13 WTA tournaments. She doesn't have to be the champion to reach the target," he said.
"Even reaching semifinals is enough for her to get into the best 50 ranks. If she can win several tournaments, she should get into the best 20."
"But Angie will have a difficult task in 2003 because she will have to maintain her ranking. She should select the tournaments carefully," he continued.
Benny also said that the WTA had decided to scrap the $110,000 Wismilak WTA Tour to be held in Surabaya later this month due to security concerns.
"The organizers from Wismilak just told me this morning that the WTA decided to scrap the event despite security guarantees from the organizers," he said.
"I also understand that Wismilak and the WTA are still engaged in negotiations but I don't know about what."
Following the 1998 riots in Jakarta, Wismilak moved its tournament to Malaysia in 1999 and 2000 before returning home this year.