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Post by janie on Jun 1, 2007 17:38:13 GMT -5
www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/06/01/stphil01.xmlMirza hits back for modern Muslims By Robert Philip "Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History," proclaims the defiant message emblazoned across the prow of Sania Mirza's favourite T-shirt. There are many other such garments in her suitcase, including one reading "I'm Cute, No Shit" and another that declares: "You Can Either Agree With Me Or Be Wrong." When you have received a fatwa courtesy of a fanatical Muslim cleric accusing you of being "a corrupting influence on young women... bringing shame to Islam... wearing clothes on the tennis court that leave nothing to the imagination", it must be tempting to adopt a low profile. Not 20-year-old Mirza, who, while as devout as any of India's 130 million Muslims, cheerfully scoffs at any suggestion she should ask her Italian clothing sponsor, Lotto, to come up with a tennis version of the burka. "As long as I'm winning, people shouldn't care whether my skirt is six inches or six feet long," protests Mirza, whose winning tennis took her to No 31 in the world until a serious knee injury confined her to a wheelchair for two months earlier this year. "How I dress is a very personal thing, so give me a break. I'm just trying to have some fun. If I have something to say I can speak, can't I? I don't have speak through what I wear." Whatever one religious extremist might read into her fashion statements at Roland Garros - and we can presume he would be appalled by the multiple ear and nose piercings - Mirza is as popular as cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar among ordinary Indians, to whom her every appearance on the streets of Hyderabad is akin to a royal walkabout. "There are times when I would enjoy a bit of privacy, but it's hard when you are one in a billion," she says. Whereas most of the leading eastern Europeans have abandoned their homelands for the practice facilities of Florida, Mirza insists she will never wrap herself in the Stars and Stripes. "Everything I am today, I am because of India," she explains with tangible national pride. Although she has acquired all the modern weaponry - a thumping double-fisted backhand and heavy top-spin forehand - Mirza is also blessed with the traditional Indian virtues of grace, deception and inventiveness, although she appeared some way short of full fitness during her 6-1, 6-4 second-round defeat against seventh-seeded Serbian Ana Ivanovic in what was only her third singles match since February. It has never been enough for Indian tennis players merely to win - each match should be an artistic masterpiece in the style of Ramanathan Krishnan, the wondrous maestro who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals in 1960 and 1961. Although he carried 'a bit of a tummy' and seldom broke into anything so undignified as a trot, each and every Krishnan rally was a thing of great beauty.Then came Vijay Amritraj, a player of rare talent but fragile temperament who might have won Wimbledon in 1973 when he led Jan Kodes by two sets to one in the quarter-finals before getting stage fright and losing 7-5 in the fifth; the Czech went on to become champion while Amritraj went on to conquer his stage fright by appearing in the Bond movie Octopussy and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Amritraj, whose son Prakesh is on the men's Tour, reached the last eight at Wimbledon again in 1981 only to lose from another winning position when he succumbed 6-2, 7-5, 4-6, 3-6, 2-6 to Jimmy Connors. Like his father 25 years before, Ramesh Krishnan won the Wimbledon junior title in 1979 (also like dad, he obviously enjoyed Mrs K's biryanis and chapatis given the generous size of his girth), and although he never went further than the quarter-finals at Wimbledon and the US Open, few players have matched the gossamer delicacy of his strokes. Blessed with a style which could be most accurately described as lazily elegant, such was his delight in simply hitting a tennis ball that Ramesh played even the most important matches with his face wreathed in smiles. Wannabe champions Gayatri, 17, and Nandita Krishnan, 15, are just setting off on the road to possible stardom, although having such a famous father and grandfather must be intimidating. "Both of them were wonderfully talented," Nandita says, "and obviously we would like play in Wimbledon quarter-finals. But you have to be realistic, too."
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Post by janie on Jun 2, 2007 10:37:44 GMT -5
Shine on Silver Moon's Angie W. update (today): All this time I just heard it and some were rumours, so I did not want to post it here...but today in one of the local newspaper, she answered the question while she played an exhibition match vs Septi Mende. Angie finally told the public that she is taking rest until end of 2007. So, she has not been trained since last January. For this exhibition, she prepared herself very little indeed. She got frustrated since her knee injury still bothered her whenever she played in a singles' match. Her last singles' match was Q2 in Bangkok Open 2006 when she bowed out to Meng Yuan. She is really in a crossroad now. Angie''s decision to return to the tour must come from herself. It must be from her heart for sure. As for me personally, I will respect whatever she will decide at the end of 2007. The most important thing, she is at peace with her heart and herself and no regret after making the final decision later. Up to now, she just doesn't want to do anything related to tennis. A big fan of her who watched her exhibition yesterday told me that she was beautiful in blue outfit and was slim.
Well, all these years, Angie became the target of Indonesian Tennis Association for politicizing things. Other players used her as an example whenever they are asked why they could not be assertive or stood up and voiced their own opinions. Other players kept saying coz Angie came from rich family while other players aren't. By being rich gal, other players think that's why Angie can be assertive and can get away from being in national camp. In my opinion, other players are simply not assertive. To be assertive, you do not need to be rich...The bottom line is Angie has always been independent. And her solid attitude make others jealous or even make the current Indonesian Tennis Association's stupid president always try to distract Angie's mental or concentration in different ways.
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Post by Wagasi on Jun 4, 2007 9:56:59 GMT -5
What a ridiculous hack job on Mirza. She's nothing like Krishnan or Amritraj and what the hell are 'traditional Indian virtues'? Too much of that colonial British condescension I guess
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Post by Brinyi on Jun 4, 2007 12:50:33 GMT -5
Still, it was worth it reliving the gossamer delicacy of Ramesh K (I never saw his dad play, unfortunately). --
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Post by Wagasi on Aug 8, 2007 17:09:10 GMT -5
Saniaaaa!
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Post by :rolleyes: on Aug 8, 2007 18:10:57 GMT -5
shit thread started by a shit poster.
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Post by janie on Aug 24, 2007 19:21:18 GMT -5
Current Indian Rankings:28 MIRZA, SANIA <huge gap>Hidden World Indians in the top 500(ish):219 RAO, SUNITHA 335 UBEROI, SHIKHA -- Ay ay ay, Shikha's fallen below Sunitha now?? 379 CHAKRAVARTHI, RUSHMI 392 IYER, TARA 444 LAKHANI, ISHA 492 BHAMBRI, ANKITA 502 BHAMBRI, SANAA
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Post by janie on Aug 24, 2007 19:27:24 GMT -5
Current Indonesian Rankings: (all are Hidden Worlders, of course; Indonesia has no Sania. And we'll dip down to the top 700 for Indonesia) 267 GUMULYA, SANDY 305 TEDJAKUSUMA, ROMANA (currently waiting for a US Green Card, apparently) 388 WIDJAJA, ANGELIQUE 409 DAMAYANTI, AYU FANI 532 TANANTA, LAVINIA 646 ROMPIES, JESSY
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Post by janie on Sept 9, 2007 9:46:21 GMT -5
Prakusya/Widjaja team playing in Bali.
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Post by Wagasi on Sept 10, 2007 8:59:03 GMT -5
It's cool how so many of the Indon surnames still have Indian cognates as first-names.
Tedjakusuma = Tejkusum = Intelligent/Splendrous Flower Widjaja = Vijay = Victory Damayanti = Damyanti = Name of a mythological princess Prakusya = Prakash = Light
Ironically all the Indian players' last names are based on geography or ancestry.
Mirza = Prince, a royal title Rao = King, a royal title Uberoi = member of the Kshatriya caste Chakravarthi = literally "wheel turner". Was a title given to emperors. Iyer = Lord or superior
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Post by janie on Sept 10, 2007 10:21:23 GMT -5
So almost all the Indian players are descended from royalty or aristocracy? Reminds me of US new age reincarnation people -- everyone was Cleopatra or a king or a president in their previous lives. (Shirley MacLaine was probably all three!) (I was probably a failed ball girl)
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Post by Wagasi on Sept 10, 2007 10:45:37 GMT -5
Well yeah, tennis is an expensive sport and India's social hiearchies are pretty rigid. Mirza is probably closest to actual royalty though. Her title is the newest and there are lots of aristocratic Mirzas in Hyderabad. The Raos, Chakravarthis, Uberois and Iyers of the world have a lot of social prestige because they're members of the highest castes (and therefore also likely members of the upper economic class) but they don't necessarily have counts/dukes or whatever in their recent past.
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Post by Brinyi on Sept 10, 2007 12:57:10 GMT -5
Angie likely to join SEAG squad from THE JAKARTA POST -- FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2007 -- PAGE 22 Although Angelique "Angie" Widjaja has not set a return date from her long hiatus from professional tennis, she is most likely to join the national tennis squad for the 2007 SEA Games in Thailand this December "I haven't signed a contract yet (to play in the SEA Games). But I have told them (the committee) I'm 95 percent ready to play," said Angie on the sidelines of a tennis coaching clinic program with nine-time Wimbledon doubles champion Todd Woodbridge of Australia The coaching clinic was held as part of a promotion for the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic, previously known as the Wismilak International, which begins next week on the resort island of Bali Angie said that earlier this year the national task force for the SEA Games had sent her a letter requesting she join the tennis squad, but she rejected the offer She changed her mind following several intent approaches made by the task force and Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti) bigwigs. "They tried to persuade me. Finally, I agreed to play but I said I couldn't play singles as it would be too late to prepare (for singles)," said the 22-year-old 2001 Wimbledon junior champ Pelti deputy secretary-general August Ferry Raturandang confirmed Angie's statement "Angie will join training along with other players Sandy Gumulya, Romana Tedjakusuma, Lavinia Tananta and Wynne Prakusya in the women's team and Christopher Rungkat, Elbert Sie and Suwandi in the men's team," Ferry told The Jakarta Post over the phone Ferry said Angie would possibly play women's doubles, teaming up with 2005 Philippine SEA Games gold medalist Wynne Prakusya, or mixed doubles, pairing with Elbert Sie or Christopher Rungkat Indonesia has set a lower target of two gold medals, compared to the three gold medals won at the Philippine SEA Games amid injuries to its main athletes, like Angie and Wynne Angie, whose world rank dropped to 390th as of Aug. 27 due to a seven-month layoff, said despite her participation in the SEA Games, she is still undecided over whether or not she will hang up her racket or continue her pro tennis career. "I don't know whether to just stop for a short while or take a real break. I don't know if I will continue after that (the SEA Games)." She said she would not take the wild card offered to her by the organizers of the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic to play in the tournament she once won in 2001 in order to "give the chance to her juniors" "Commonwealth has a different class of quality. Three months of preparation is not enough for me. My principle is if you don't prepare properly, then you'd better not participate," she said "Moreover, I should not take the chance away from the juniors. Their ranks might lift (given the chance), as happened for me when I was given the chance a few years ago." Copyright 2007 The Jakarta Post
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Post by janie on Sept 10, 2007 18:24:40 GMT -5
No! Come back, Angie. Hell with the juniors.
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Post by janie on Oct 4, 2007 6:51:32 GMT -5
THE STUNNING (IF TEMPORARY) RETURN OF ANGIE AND WYNNY:
according to Indon poster Shine on Silver Moon @ the World:
"As both Angie and Wynne are committed to play doubles for South East Asian Games in December 2007 (to be held in Nakorn Ratchasima, Thailand), they will return to the tour in November.Two tourneys are scheduled for them: Pune, India 25K in the week of Novermber 12 and Aurangabad, India 10K in the week of November 19.
"I only know that Angie will play both singles and doubles. Not sure if Wynne will play singles since she just had pre-typhoid after WTA Bali. Angie has been practicing with her 1st ever coach, Meiske Wiguna in her hometown, Bandung, West Java."
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Post by Brinyi on Oct 4, 2007 8:36:15 GMT -5
Pre-typhoid
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Post by Brinyi on Nov 27, 2007 15:34:18 GMT -5
RI tennis faces the music ahead of SEAG
Matheos Viktor Messakh, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
It is hard to choose between grooming young athletes and losing face by returning home from an event with no gold medals in the hand.
The Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti) has apparently decided to go for gold by placing their trust in the much-experienced Angelique "Angie" Widjaja and Wynne Prakusya, rather than their juniors, to join the Indonesian squad at next month's SEA Games in the expectation of bringing home two gold medals.
"When it comes to (defending) the country's honor, do we need to humiliate ourselves by fielding less-experienced players? We cannot use the SEA Games as a tryout arena," said Pelti's deputy secretary-general August Ferry Raturandang.
Angie and Wynne, who both have taken long breaks from professional tennis due to nagging injuries, are included in the team as Indonesia's task force for the SEA Games has demanded that Pelti win at least two gold medals from the women's doubles and mixed doubles, less than three gold medals it won in the 2005 Philippine SEA Games.
"Initially, we planned to field junior players to let them get more experience, but then the target would likely be unattainable. That's why we're resorting to the senior players," Ferry told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
He said that 2001 Wimbledon junior champion Angie and 2005 gold medalist Wynne were still ahead of their juniors in terms of skill and experience.
Besides Angie and Wynne, the Indonesian women's team comprises Indonesia No. 1 Sandy Gumulya, No. 3 Lavinia Tananta Hartono and veteran Romana Tedjakusuma.
Angie confirmed Thursday that she had been asked to join the national training camp in August.
"They tried to persuade me and finally I agreed to play, but I said I couldn't play singles as it would be too late to start preparing," said the 23-year-old player, who was once No. 55 in the world.
"I didn't do any training from January to August, not even exercising, so it would be difficult to expect me to play singles," she said.
Angie will pair up with Wynne, and also play in the mixed doubles.
With only about three months of training in Bandung and Jakarta, Angie and Wynne are expected to counter Thai No. 1 and world No. 129 Tamarine Tanasugarn, who is likely to play in the women's and mixed doubles.
After an early exit at the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic in Bali in September, Angie and Wynne finished second in the Women's Circuit in Pune, India, in mid-November after losing to Veratchaya Wongteanchai of Thailand and Zhang Ling of Hong Kong in the finals 1-6, 5-7 (5/10).
In the same tournament, Indonesia's No. 1, Sandy Gumulya, won the tournament after beating Isha Lakhani of India 6-3, 7-5 in the finals.
Tennis great Yayuk Basuki, who is now in charge of the task force's unit overseeing tennis, baseball and table tennis, said that both Angie and Wynne had made significant progress in their training, even though they started quite late.
Aside from the women's team, the Indonesian men's team will consist of Indonesia's No. 1, Elbert Sie, No. 3 Christopher Rungkat and old hand Suwandi.
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Post by Brinyi on Dec 3, 2007 11:29:58 GMT -5
Asians have potential, but lack aggression: Basuki Micky AignerPosted online: Saturday, November 17, 2007 at 0000 hrs Print Email Pune, November 16: Many in India may not remember Yayuk Basuki — Indonesia’s best-ever tennis player. But Leander Paes’ first-ever mixed doubles partner has almost iconic status back home. Basuki played with Paes at Wimbledon in 1994 and the US Open in 1995. “We had fun...real fun,” she reminisced. Basuki, 37, retired from the pro tour, is a consultant to the Indonesian sports ministry since 2004 and evaluates seven sports— badminton, sepak takraw, softball, baseball, table tennis and squash apart from tennis — in a bid to improve Indonesia’s sports image worldwide. “It’s not that sport in our country is no where. But it’s not enough to be known world over,” she explained. The former WTA Tour No 19 singles player, who is in the city with Indonesia’s crack doubles pair Angelique Widjaja and Wynne Prakusya, spoke to The Indian Express. Excerpts: On being involved with diverse sports •Thankfully, I am a blessed athlete and importantly back home people look up to me for what I have achieved. If I can exchange any skill I posses, in whatever capacity, then why not? Indonesia has a host of professionals, but sports champions are few. And sport, I guess, builds a nation. On the not-so-impressive tennis history Indonesia has •No encouragement, lack of publicity and only certain sports getting priority is Indonesia’s bane. Sports overall is on the downslide. For example, it’s satisfying to see Challenger tournaments beamed on television, even if it was only two days. In Indonesia, this tournament would draw a blank, which discourages many. On the future of Indonesian tennis •Bright. But on the flipside, tennis lacks its own stars. One can count them — Lita Liem Sugirto (1974 Asian Games winner, women’s singles), Donald Wailan-Walangi-Suharyadi Suharyadi (1988 Seoul Olympic men’s doubles silver medallist), Angelique Widjaja (junior Wimbledon girls singles champ 2001) and Wynne Prakusya, who along with Angielique was a Top-15 pair on the WTA tour — are the only known names. In fact, Anglelique/Wynne are on a comeback to inspire players back home. •On Asians being tennis’ underachievers Asians have the potential. If at 165 centimeters I broke through the Top-20, we (Asians) have it in us. Justin Henin is a perfect example of what can be achieved by being mentally strong. The gap, I agree, is big and by my reading, Asians don’t give it that extra bit. Aggression is, if not totally, absent. Moreover, I guess, if Asians have to challenge the Europeans and Americans we ought to stop being friendly on-court. (Laughs) We rather are too ‘friendly’. On whether Sania Mirza has reached her peak •No way, I’ve been following her for four years. She can do better and to be fair, is top-20 material. On missing tennis for being involved in other sports as well •The competitive part yes, but the Yayuk Basuki Tennis Academy that my husband (Hary Suharyadi) and I run in Jakarta keeps me in touch. On her best tennis moment •The Canadian Open 1996 when I lost to Monica Seles in the semi-finals, but before that it was the then recently crowned French Open champion Iva Majoli — the No 3 seed —my biggest ever.
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Post by janie on Dec 4, 2007 19:40:24 GMT -5
Yayuk is 37??
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Post by janie on Apr 7, 2008 17:16:51 GMT -5
Shocking news: Terminally hapless Shikha Uberoi is on a roll! She had the good fortune to draw legendary bagel woman Marilyn Baker in the Jackson 25K qr1. Thrashing MB 60 60 made Shikha feel so good that she went on to dominate the 2nd seed, Agustina Lepore, 63 63, later the same day (yesterday). Was she done, then? NO! She came back today and wiped the floor with 10th seed Mary Gambale, 61 63. So Shikha has qualified! At this rate, before long she may be able to move above Brie in the rankings. And it's all thanks to Marilyn Baker's peerless ineptitude. In the main draw, Shikha will face 7th seed Ye-Ra Lee, currently ranked, oh, about 700 spots above Shikha. But that won't worry our newly-confident Shikha! Sticking to the theme of this thread, Indon player Sandy Gumulya is also in the Jackson draw, as is Shikha's fellow "Indian", Sunitha Rao, the 3rd seed.
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Post by janie on Apr 9, 2008 20:19:05 GMT -5
Ye-Ra def. Shikha 67(8) 64 64 Oh, well, she's getting closer. And Sandy Gumulya lost to Chin-Wei Chan.
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Post by janie on Apr 14, 2008 17:41:59 GMT -5
2008 Shikha watch, continued:Shikha, currently ranked 953, is in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. to try to qualify for that 25K. In Qr1, she shocked the world by beating the 3rd seed, up-and-coming Las Vegas teen Asia Muhammad, ranked 423, 61 36 76(2). In Qr2, she crushed Anastasia Kharchenko 61 61. Her Qr3 opponent was geezerette challenger pro Svetlana Krivencheva, age 34, seeded 15th and ranked 603. I wish they could both qualify, but Shikha had the tougher road to here, so I hope she won today.
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Post by janie on Apr 15, 2008 19:17:40 GMT -5
Shikha eased past Krivencheva 64 63, and so has qualified, and so has earned 1 more WTA point! At this rate, can the top 800 be far away? But slumping Sandy Gumulya crashed out. Romana won, but that doesn't ease the sting of Sandy's troubles.
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Post by Wagasi on Apr 15, 2008 21:19:28 GMT -5
Indian hope Sania was on Zee News today. Her trainer says her wrist is healing well and she decided to get surgery early in order to recover well before the Olympics. Her apparent goal at said Olympics is to "win a gold medal for India." I'm sure her saying something so ridiculous was the sole reason for her getting any coverage at all. The rest of the news was predictably about cricket and bollywood...oh and one line about some minor disturbance in Tibet...I'm sure it's not important.
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Post by janie on Sept 5, 2008 8:52:21 GMT -5
India's tennis star Mirza vows to return fitter
Fri Aug 29, 10:14 AM ET NEW DELHI (AFP) - Indian tennis star Sania Mirza is confident of getting over her current injury crisis and bouncing back into the top 50 soon with the help of a new trainer.
Mirza, 21, slipped from a career high of 27 in August last year to 70 in the latest WTA rankings after an injury-plagued season in 2008.
"It is naturally very frustrating for her to miss tournaments," Mirza's father, Imran Mirza, told AFP from the family base in Hyderabad on Friday.
"But she understands injuries are a tennis player's professional hazard and part and parcel of a sportsman's career.
"She is very positive and looking forward to bouncing back soon," he said.
Mirza injured her right wrist during the Indian Wells tournament in March and had to have surgery a month later.
She pulled out of the French Open in May-June, lost in the second round at Wimbledon and crashed out in the first round at the Beijing Olympics.
Mirza, who also withdrew from the ongoing US Open, has signed up trainer Amir Takla, a consultant with Tennis Australia.
"Takla is scheduled to arrive this weekend and will work with Sania for a period of six weeks," Imran said.
"The goal is to ensure her wrist recovers to its original strength, but at the same time the focus will also be towards optimising her overall physical fitness."
Imran refused to set a date for her return to the circuit, saying it was too early to predict.
"It is difficult to fix a timeframe for being back in competition even before work towards her rehabilitation has begun," he said.
"But we are looking at Sania playing a few tournaments later in the year to prepare for next year's Australian Open."
He also downplayed concerns over Mirza's spiralling rankings.
"When one is forced to skip Grand Slams and other compulsory tournaments... one has to expect that the ranking will come down because these are based on performances in these tournaments.
"But once the injury has been taken care of, the rankings will fall into place in due course of time. Sania is confident that after she finds her rhythm in a few months, she will be back where she belongs."
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Post by janie on Oct 27, 2008 6:27:22 GMT -5
Gumulya takes control to earn second pro titleBy Jim Irish| Staff Writer Monday, October 27, 2008 Michael Holahan/Staff Sandy Gumulya (above) beat third-seeded Tetiana Luzhanska to win the ITF Women's Challenger. After a three-hour semifinal, Sandy Gumulya prepared for another grueling match in the final. She needn't have worried. Eighth-seeded Gumulya simply waited for Tetiana Luzhanska to make unforced errors on her way to winning the Comcast ITF Women's Challenger at the Club at Raes Creek on Sunday. And they came frequently -- 27 in the first set -- as Gumulya won 6-0, 7-6 (5). Gumulya had only seven unforced errors in the first set. "Actually, my strategy is make her run first," said Gumulya, who is from Jakarta, Indonesia. She ditched that strategy when third-seeded Luzhanska, a 24-year-old native of Kiev, Ukraine, tried slugging her forehand, mostly out. Gumulya reeled off eight consecutive games before Luzhanska got on the board. "I came out nervous," said Luzhanska, who is ranked No. 217 in the world. "I was trying to finish off the points too quick." After five years on the pro tour, the 22-year-old Gumulya, ranked No. 255, said she has learned to be more patient. "I mix up the balls," she said. "I slice it, come in to the net." Gumulya was forced to employ more of an all-court game in a semifinal marathon against American Audra Cohen, an NCAA singles champion at the University of Miami in 2007, before winning 5-7, 6-4, 7-5. In the second set, Luzhanska started to find the range on her forehand, breaking Gumulya in the third game. She held serve to tie it at 2. They remained on serve until Luzhanska hit a forehand volley to break Gumulya and go up 5-4. But Luzhanska reverted to hitting unforced errors, losing her serve at love. Gumulya wasted a match point in the 11th game, and Luzhanska forced a tiebreaker on a forehand winner. In the tiebreaker, Gumulya sprinted to a 4-0 lead on three unforced errors by Luzhanska and a forehand winner. Luzhanzka rallied to trail 6-5 but hit a forehand long to end it. Gumulya, who won her second pro title and earned $2,900, said she'll train for two weeks before resuming competition in India.
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Post by janie on Oct 27, 2008 6:30:24 GMT -5
Actually, danker at the world points out that Sandy has won 6 10Ks in addition to 2 25Ks, so that makes 8 pro titles, but who's counting.
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Post by janie on Oct 27, 2008 6:33:49 GMT -5
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Post by janie on Nov 12, 2008 18:52:27 GMT -5
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Post by janie on Nov 16, 2008 14:18:07 GMT -5
copied from the World:Here is an article from today's Jakarta Post which touches on why Yayuk came back, and support from her husband. A longer profile will appear later this month in the daily's WEEKENDER magazine. [too bad so much of the article deals with other random women instead of sticking to the topic ]Going her own wayBruce Emond , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sun, 11/16/2008 9:13 AM When Yayuk Basuki decided to return to the international tennis circuit at the age of 37 earlier this year to play doubles, the natural assumption of many people was that it was for the money. What else could account for the fact that the former world number 19 , who retired at the end of 2001, was leaving her husband and young son behind in Indonesia? In fact, Yayuk, who won US$1.6 million during her career, says that is not the reason. “I’m motivated by the love of the game and to stay healthy,” she says from a tournament in the United States. “I never thought I would come back.” She turns 38 on Nov. 30, and dreams of playing a Grand Slam tournament again, especially Wimbledon. For some, however, falling on hard times would have been an easier, more understandable reason to accept her leaving her family rather than her pursuit of personal goals and self-fulfillment. For, given prevailing views, women should put their families first — and their own concerns a distant second. Women who leave their homes to earn a paycheck for their husbands and families abroad, like thousands of Indonesian migrant workers every year, are considered self-sacrificing heroes. In contrast, those who head out in search of themselves, whether through their careers or through education, are often branded as selfish and egotistical. Yayuk, who has won a couple of satellite tournaments in Germany and the United States with fellow Indonesian Romana Tedjakusuma, admits that not all of her family members agreed with her decision. But the ones who mattered — her husband Heri Suharyadi and son — gave her their blessing. “It’s hard,” she says of the separation, “but we keep in touch all the time.” The reaction is often unsupportive, even condemnatory, causing conflicted feelings and guilt among women. “Sarah”, a British expatriate in her mid-40s, returned to working in international aid work in Indonesia when her two children were teenagers. She remembers she was in her late 30s, taking care of her children, when she thought, “is this it?” “For most of my life, I had put my marriage and children first, and then I wanted to see what I could do,” she says. It was supposed to be for a year, but after three months her husband sent her an ultimatum to come home or else. “I'm not good with ultimatums,” she says of her decision to continue in her job and get a divorce. Her children stayed with their father in Europe; although her daughter backed her decision to do what she wanted in life, her son was not happy. Now in his mid-20s, he remains bitter about her decision. “I’ve invited him to come out here but he refuses,” says Sarah, who is now pursuing another dream with a community-based tourism project. “He says he would like to see the country but it would be like agreeing with my decision to do this.” She has no regrets about the decision. “It definitely wasn’t about the money,” she says emphatically of her aid work and running the new business with an Australian partner who is in the same situation as her. “But I found the real me, instead of playing at being someone I wasn’t.” She also takes comfort in the example of Stanley Ann Dunham Soetoro, the late mother of U.S. president-elect Barack Obama. Her father read an article about Soetoro — who studied and worked in Indonesia while her young son eventually chose to stay with his grandparents in Hawaii — and told her, “that’s you!” Soetoro’s friends told New York Times reporter Janny Scott earlier this year that the separation was painful for her. Obama’s half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, said in the same article her difficult choices were entirely in keeping with her philosophy of life. “She felt that somehow, wandering through uncharted territory, we might stumble upon something that will, in an instant, seem to represent who we are at the core,” said Soetoro-Ng. “That was very much her philosophy of life — to not be limited by fear or narrow definitions, to not build walls around ourselves and to do our best to find kinship and beauty in unexpected places.” Human relations expert Eileen Rachman says society still expects married career women to also take care of their households, the much-vaunted “super woman” able to be successful on all fronts. She admits it is cultural and chauvinistic, but adds “you can be successful and motherly together”. But physical absence from one’s family for long periods of time, she believes, has too many effects on the woman and her family. “The question is what price you are paying,” says Eileen from the Experd consultancy. “It you can’t afford it, then you stay.” Yayuk’s husband, Suharyadi, says he was surprised by her decision to return to competitive tennis, not because she was leaving him and their 9-year-old son, but because of the hard work required to get fit for the tour. “Yayuk is very strong-willed and I knew she wanted to do this, so I accepted it and support her,” says Heri, a former player who now coaches. “People get it wrong if they look at it as something selfish. They should think of it like the people in motor racing and other sports who have wanted to make a comeback.” He says he has gained newfound respect for his wife in his new role taking care of the household. “I do things like pay the electricity which I didn’t before. And I have also become closer to our son because I spend more time with him now.” Sarah argues that both sexes are “liberated” when they try something different from their conventional, gender-defined roles. She has sacrificed a lot to pursue her dreams and has dealt with criticism from some of her family, but that’s the way it’s meant to be. “I didn’t want to be on my deathbed thinking, ‘oh, I wish I had done that’. On my deathbed, I’ll be able to think, ‘yes, I did that after all.” Read more about Yayuk Basuki’s comeback in the December WEEKENDER, out Nov. 28.
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