Volleyball body defends ruling

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 05/03/2008 11:14 AM  |  Sports

The country's volleyball association have defended their ruling favoring Jakarta P2B Sananta men's team in last week's semifinal match against the Samator of Surabaya.

The Sampoerna Hijau Proliga Volleyball semifinal match was marred by controversial umpiring decisions causing Samator players to walk off court.

Tournament director Hanny Surkatty said his association would not change its decision despite the referees later admitting they had made some bad calls.

"We've made our final decision. Any team refusing to resume play will lose the match by default," Hanny said.

"We hope everyone will accept the decision," he said.

"We hope Samator will play for the third spot on Sunday," he said.

Samator players protested a decision made during the fourth game of Saturday's match, when a smash from Sananta's player, Andri, was blocked by Samator's players. The ball then landed on one of Sananta's line, sparking different judgments from two linesmen.

The referee ruled the teams replay the point, but Samator players did not accept the decision and refused to return to the court. The referee granted victory to Sananta, declaring Samator's loss by default because of the walkout.

Sananta will take on BNI Taplus of Jakarta in the finals, which will be held at Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Sunday.

Samator will play Yuso Tomkins of Bantul to grab third place.

In the women's division, Bank Jatim of Surabaya are pitted against Electric PLN of Jakarta in the finals, while losers BNI Taplus of Jakarta will take on Petrokimia of Gresik.

Bank Jatim assistant manager Johannes Kunto said his team was prepared to beat Electric PLN.

"We are very optimistic that we can beat Electric because we have more experienced players," he said.

However, he warned his players to keep their heads low and not to underestimate their opponents.

"I told them to always give their best so we can win the match," he said. (ewd)

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