RI To Field Eight Tennis Players At ISG

Palembang, S Sumatra, Sept 17 (Antara) - Indonesia, as the host country, will field eight tennis players at the third Islamic Solidarity Games (ISG), which will take place from September 22 to October 1, 2013. "The eight athletes, including Albert Sie, David Agung, and Christopher Rungkat, have international experience. So, they have the potential to win medals at the ISG," said Asnawi HD, secretary to the provincial executive board of the Indonesian Tennis Association as the ISG organising committee, on Tuesday. According to him, Christopher is experienced because he was a champion in men`s singles tennis tournament of Future 3 Thailand 2013 and managed to grab a gold medal in the men`s singles of SEA Games 2012, participated by 11 countries. "We hope Indonesia can win medals at the ISG; we are aware that ISG is on a larger scale compared to SEA Games, with 11 participating countries," he said. Asnawi mentioned that the organising committee has prepared 10 international standard venues for tennis tournaments. The 2013 ISG will be officially opened on September 22. A total of 44 countries will be participating in the event - Algeria, Azerbaijan, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Fasao, Egypt, Guyana, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Maldives, Morocco, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Uganda, Yemen, Guinea, Mauritania, Gambia, Nigeria, Jordan, Togo, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Cameroon, Mozambique, Lebanon, Tunisia, Somalia, Bahrain, Djibouti, Bangladesh, and Chad. The Islamic Solidarity Games Federation (ISSF) is responsible for the direction and control of the ISG. Earlier, the Indonesian government had planned to hold the ISG 2013 in Pekanbaru, Riau province, from June 6 to 17, 2013. But due to unforeseen circumstances, the government decided to shift the venue to South Sumatra and postpone the event to September 22, 2013.