Women's tennis team serves up win
Women's tennis team serves up win
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Manila
The national women's tennis team exacted revenge on their Thai
rivals for gold on Monday, but their male counterparts fell in a
contest marred by a prematch protest about the eligibility of the
host team's players.
Wynne Prakusya, a member of the team that lost the final to
Thailand in Vietnam two years ago, locked up the gold with a 6-3,
7-6 (5) win over Suchanan Viratprasert in 90 minutes on the hard
court at Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.
Her win gave the Indonesian women an unassailable 2-0 lead in
the best-of-three match contest.
Earlier, Romana Tedjakusuma was forced to go the distance in a
6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (3) victory over Napaporn Tongsalee. The match
lasted almost two hours and a half hours.
There was disappointment for the men. Suwandi lost to Eric
Taino 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, while Prima Simpatiaji was overwhelmed by
Cecil Mamiit 6-1, 6-2 in an hour.
Team coach Tintus Arianto Wibowo protested the inclusion of
the two U.S.-born players of Philippine descent, saying they were
still representing the U.S. in tournaments only five weeks ago.
The match referee dismissed the protest, Tintus said, because
both men held passports issued in April 2005. Player eligibility
rules state a naturalized citizen may represent their new country
six months after a passport is issued.
In the dead third match, Sunu Wahyu Trijati and Bonit Wiryawan
combined for a 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over Johnny Arcilla and
Patrick John Tierro.
Indonesia launched a similar protest about the eligibility of
American-born Riza Alameda before their women's team semifinal
against the hosts on Saturday. The protest was also denied.
Romana, 29, was pleased to finally overcame Tongsalee -- who
had beaten her in their three previous meetings -- when it
counted.
"I'm glad to be able to win gold. I was confident before I
took to the court."
Wynne kept the small Indonesian contingent of spectators --
consisting of national tennis officials and journalists -- in
suspense, especially as she had lost in straight sets to the Thai
in Vietnam.
She held a match point, which was quickly canceled out by the
Thai, who went on to take a 5-3 lead in the tiebreak. But a
punishing rally of topspin groundstrokes was won by the
Indonesian, and a spent Viraprasert tamely served a double fault.
"Nervous? Yes, I was a bit because it was a deciding match for
the team. But I managed to brush the nerves off, helped by my
confidence that we would be able to win the deciding doubles."