RI judo squad not likely to train overseas<\/p>\n
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
While an overseas outing would likely help Indonesia's judokas
\nprepare for the upcoming Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, the
\nathletes will likely have to make do with training at home.<\/p>\n
Aji Kusmantri, an official at the Judo Association of
\nIndonesia (PJSI), said on Tuesday the team had plans to train
\noverseas but no country had been decided on.<\/p>\n
He said the team might have to be content with training at
\nhome prior to their departure to Vietnam, the host country of the
\n22nd SEA Games in December, given that no overseas tournaments
\nwere suitable for the athletes.<\/p>\n
\"The world championships in Japan and an Asian event in South
\nKorea are the only two tournaments around, but the level of
\ncompetition at the tournaments would be too high for our judokas,
\nwho are only looking for a warm-up prior to the Games,\" Aji, who
\nis the deputy secretary-general of PJSI, told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
The world championships will take place in September and the
\nAsian event in October.<\/p>\n
\"If the athletes have to stay at home it shouldn't be a
\nproblem. As long as they can optimize their training, they can do
\ntheir best at the SEA Games,\" he said.<\/p>\n
PJSI has 32 athletes currently training in their respective
\nprovinces. Among the athletes are four gold medalists from the
\n2001 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur -- Kresna Bayu, Dwi Sihmanto, I
\nWayan Sutikno and Endang Sri Lestari.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Aprilia Marzuki, who won silver at the 2001 SEA
\nGames, is training in Germany, where she attends university in
\nDamstadt. She is being supervised by a German trainer, Aji said.<\/p>\n
These 32 athletes will be pared down to 16 -- eight men and
\neight women -- at the Wismoyo Cup in Surabaya, East Java, this
\nAugust.<\/p>\n
Asked about the team's medal prospects in Vietnam, Aji said it
\nwas difficult to predict. \"Thailand, the Philippines, Myanmar and
\nhost Vietnam should be our toughest opponents.\"<\/p>\n
Thailand won the most gold medals in judo at the 2001 Sea
\nGames, with seven. Indonesia won four golds, while Myanmar took
\ntwo.<\/p>\n
One judo observer here said the 29-year-old Bayu would be the
\nfavorite to win the men's heavyweight division in Vietnam.<\/p>\n
\"If it is just the Southeast Asian region, Bayu is still the
\ncontender to beat,\" Eka Setia Wirawan, Bayu's former trainer,
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Bayu, who has taken part in the Olympics in 1996 in Atlanta
\nand 2000 in Sydney, is reportedly still recovering from the back
\ninjury that kept him out of the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South
\nKorea.<\/p>",
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