Tae kwon do streamlines elite training program<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
After returning with a single gold from December's Southeast
\nAsian (SEA) Games, the Indonesian Taekwondo Association (TI) has
\nslashed the number of athletes in its elite training program and
\nis recruiting a new batch of coaches.<\/p>\n
TI secretary-general Ade Lukman said on Monday that only four
\nof eight athletes selected to the Indonesia Awakens (IA) program
\nwould remain in training for the 2006 Asian Games, with another
\nathlete to be called up.<\/p>\n
Basuki Nugroho, who won Indonesia's lone gold medal at the
\nGames, 2005 SEA Games silver medalist Taufik Krisna, bronze
\nmedalist Rosandi and former women's world champion Juana Wangsa
\nPutri are still part of the program.<\/p>\n
Muhammad Dalam Imam, who was the bronze medalist in the 2002
\nAsian Games, has also been called up to the program, which has
\nbeen implemented since 2003 for 11 sports in the runup to the
\nAsia in Doha next December.<\/p>\n
\"The remaining IA athletes who did not perform (to
\nexpectations) in the 2005 SEA Games will return to their home
\nprovinces,\" Ade said, adding that another athlete may be
\nrecruited in the future.<\/p>\n
A group of new coaches also would be appointed to \"refresh\"
\nthe atmosphere at the national training camp, Ade said, with
\ntheir names to be announced later in the week.<\/p>\n
\"We need to solidify our team now to meet our target of
\nwinning one gold in the Asian Games,\" he said. \"We still have the
\nchance but it will be difficult, so we need some changes in
\nnational training.\"<\/p>\n
Indonesia's one gold, four silver and six bronze medals in tae
\nkwon do in the Philippine Games put it behind the host team's six
\ngolds, Vietnam (4), Thailand (3) and Malaysia (2).<\/p>\n
Ade attributed the failure to the limited stock of athletes,
\nlack of competition and the use of separate training camps in
\nJakarta and Central Java.<\/p>\n
\"Now with the new squad, we hope we will have a stronger and
\nmore solid team for the Asian Games. We will centralize our
\ntraining camp and evaluate them every month,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said the athletes and coaches would start national training
\nfor the 2006 Asian Games on Jan. 15.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has set a target of 10 gold medals from all sports
\nin Doha.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/tae-kwon-do-streamlines-elite-training-program-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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