17 countries set to take part in Karate's Indonesia Open
17 countries set to take part in Karate's Indonesia Open
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Seventeen countries have confirmed that they will take part in
the next month's Indonesia Open Karate Tournament, where host
Indonesia will field two teams, the organizing committee said on
Wednesday.
Committee chairman Hermawan Sulistyo said invitations had been
sent to 72 countries, 65 of which had responded. But only 17
countries have officially verified their participation in the
tournament.
Those confirming their arrival are Algeria, Australia,
Bangladesh, Brunei, Hong Kong, Iran, Jordan, Malaysia, Myanmar,
Pakistan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka,
Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.
"I hope that Japan will be able to send its athletes to the
tournament," Hermawan, who heads the research and development
department at the Indonesian Karate-do Association (Forki), said
of the chance that athletes from the sport's home country would
participate.
He said most of the participating countries would come to the
tournament with teams young and veteran athletes.
The Indonesia Open will run for three days starting on June 4
at the Bung Karno Indoor Tennis Stadium.
Indonesia will compete with two teams, called the Buffalo and
the Tiger.
The Buffalo team, led by manager Tono Soeud and head coach
Willem Mantiri, will be composed of young and veteran athletes,
the latter currently preparing for the 2002 Asian Games in South
Korea.
The Tiger squad, to be guided by manager Ahmad Budu and head
coach Zulkarnaen Purba, will be made up of the karatekas who
stole the spotlight at the Kasad Cup tournament in Bandung
earlier this month.
According to a tentative lineup given to The Jakarta Post, the
Buffalo team was to have included Jenny Zeanette and Yulianti
Syafrudin.
But the committee announced that the two women karatekas would
instead be taking part in the Ladies Open in France, which is
being held at the same time as the Indonesia Open.
No replacements for the two have yet to be announced.
The Indonesia Open will include 19 events -- 15 individual
ones and four team. According to Hermawan, who is also a
political analyst, Indonesia has a realistic chance of winning
the men's team kumite.