10 lifters named for Asian championships
10 lifters named for Asian championships
JAKARTA (JP): Coach Harry Wibowo announced yesterday
Indonesia's 10 best bets for the Asian men's weightlifting
championships in Japan next month.
The championships, to be held in Yachio, 30 kilometers from
Tokyo, from April 4 to April 9, serve as the final Olympic
qualifying round for Asian lifters. They offer a total of five
Olympic berths, two for the winner and one each for those who
finish second to fourth.
The 10 lifters are Hari Setiawan and Wahyudi (for the 54kg
category), Taufik and Zulkarnaen (59kg), Erwin Abdullah and
Sodikin (64kg), Sutrisno (70kg), Lukman (76kg), Sunaryo (90kg)
and Mahfud (108kg and above).
They are the best lifters Indonesia currently has. Hari,
Taufik, Sodikin, Sutrisno and Lukman won gold medals at the 18th
Southeast Asian Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand, last year.
Erwin Abdullah is the current national record holder in the
men's 64kg. His record total lift is 290kg, which he set last
year during a national selection meet in Gajah Sena, Bogor. Erwin
had been national record holder in the 59kg category, until
Taufik bettered not only his, but also a two-and-a-half-year-old
SEA Games record, at a national meet in Jakarta in January.
Sunaryo and Mahfud are also national record holders. But
Sunaryo, prepared for the 90kg category in Yachio meet, set the
record in the 108kg category at the January national meet.
The fact that the choice fell to this particular 10 lifters
and the way the 10 were placed into such categories show efforts
to ensure "the right man in the right place".
Harry said that winning Olympic berths at the Yachio meet
might be easier because Asian weightlifting powerhouses which
have already got their Olympic berths, such as China, are not
entitled to additional berths.
Nine Asian countries secured Olympic slots during the world
weight lifting championships held in Guangzhou last year. They
are China, Japan, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, Kazakhstan,
Kirgizstan, Uzbekistan, India and Iraq. (arf)