Sub-par athletes given second chance<\/p>\n
Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Four karate hopefuls, who turned in sub-par performances at
\nthe last week's local competition, will still be given an
\nopportunity to improve under the \"Indonesia Awakens\" (IA) sports
\ndevelopment program.<\/p>\n
Donny Dharmawan, Syarif, Puspa Meonk and Kartika each failed
\nto win a gold medal in their respective categories at the three-
\nday Maesa Cup, which ended on Sunday, but Maxi Pauran, head of
\nthe competition, said that the results could not be used as a
\nparameter of their \"real ability\".<\/p>\n
The four are among 85 athletes, from 11 sports, currently
\nundergoing focused training under the IA program, a three-year
\nsports program launched by the National Sports Committee (KONI)
\nwith a goal to win 10 gold medals at the 2006 Asian Games in
\nQatar.<\/p>\n
The program also includes 35 coaches. The other 10 sports are
\narchery, track and field, badminton, beach volleyball, chess,
\ncycling, sailing, tae kwon do, tennis and weightlifting.<\/p>\n
For the karate athletes, the weekend's Maesa Cup was supposed
\nto be a kind of assessment tournament, where they were meant to
\nshow that they deserved a place in the program.<\/p>\n
Donny took bronze after he was defeated by Nur Fajar, a former
\nnational athlete, in the semifinal, while Puspa lost to Dominggas
\nof Papua in the final round.<\/p>\n
Kartika lost to another Papuan athlete, Meri in the semifinal,
\nwhile the 18-year-old Syarif, who won a silver medal at last
\nyear's World Karate Championships in France, failed to win any
\nhardware.<\/p>\n
\"Although they all lost, none of them suffered a bad defeat.
\nThey went out only by one or two points,\" Maxi said.<\/p>\n
KONI's chief in charge of development affairs Djoko Pramono
\nsaid that the training program had been running for only a month
\nand that it would be unfair to judge their performance only from
\nthis event.<\/p>\n
Djoko also said that their opponents could have had extra
\nmotivation from being offered a reward of Rp 3 million (US$353)
\nby the national karate-do association (Forki) chairman Luhut
\nPanjaitan, if they defeated the IA members.<\/p>\n
Separately, Djoko announced that pole vaulter Ni Putu Desi
\nwould be excluded from IA program, but Djoko said he could not
\ngive the reason, pending an announcement by the Indonesian Track
\nand Field Association (PASI).<\/p>\n
Desi vaulted to a gold medal at the 2003 Southeast Asian (SEA)
\nGames in Vietnam with a personal record 3.95 meters (12 feet, 11
\n7\/8 inches).<\/p>",
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