25 Indonesian cyclists to compete in Iran, Japan

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Cycling Association will send 15 track cyclists and 10 mountain bikers to two international championships in Japan and Iran next week in preparation for October's Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

The new training director, Soebronto Laras, said yesterday that two national records were set at Tuesday's test at the Rawamangun velodrome, East Jakarta.

Suwandra clocked four minutes and 57 seconds in the 4000 meter Individual Pursuit, 4.523 seconds faster than teammate Teguh Eko Pambudi at the last SEA Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Nurhayati beat her own record from four minute 12 seconds to four minutes 02 seconds.

Track official Wahyudi said during a meeting with the National Sports Council officials yesterday that all athletes had achieved 90 percent of their best performances.

"We hope in four months, the male cyclists can improve their records. For Nurhayati, we are aiming to finish in less than four minutes," he said.

At the last Games Indonesia won five gold, four silver and three bronze medals in cycling events.

The track cyclists will compete at the Asian Championships in Teheran, Iran, from June 14 to June 21.

"Unfortunately we can only send male cyclists because Iran doesn't stage a championship for female cyclists. A special competition for women cyclists will be staged in South Korea in September," Wahyudi said.

Soebronto said that the association might not send Nurhayati and her sister Nuraini to the women's championships because it might be too close to the SEA Games.

"It's too risky to send them to the championships. Now, they only have male cyclists as their training partners," he said. "However, the association expects Nurhayati to win five golds out of the 16 on offer."

Nurochman, Yudi Febrianto, Suwandra, Henry Setiawan, Mochammad Nur, Hengky Setiawan, Dedy Effendi, Deddy Rusdian, Andry Sudrajat, Agus Yulianto, Egi Eirin Ismail, Teguh Eko Pambudi, Krisyanto, Deddi Waskito and Herry Janto Setiawan will leave for Teheran on Sunday.

Mountain bike official Bambang Rujito said training has been moved from Malang in East Java, to Subang in West Java, as a preparation for the Japan Open mountain bike championship on June 14 and June 15.

Sugianto, Amir Mahmud, Zainul Siswanto, Ferry, Ferinanto, Sugianto Setiawan in the men's side and Risa Suseanty, Sri Suharmi, Ayuningrum, Rini Suyatmi will be in the women's side for the championships.

"We hope we can make a clean sweep of the mountain bike downhill and cross country events. Our target in the Japan Open is to finish second after host Japan. Compared to other Southeast Asian countries, our cyclists are better," Bambang said.

Surfing

Seven national surfers will have overseas stints in Germany and England and are scheduled to leave Jakarta on June 10.

Oka Sulaksana, Miki Sampelan, Agus Faizal, Ray Gunadi, Suhendi, Yusuf Faisal, and the only female surfer, Yuni Trisnawati, will compete at the North Sea Cup in Pevensey Bay, England, from June 11 to June 13 and the Kieler Woche championship in Kiel, Germany, from June 24 to June 28.

The Indonesia Yachting Association's secretary-general, Raymond Kotumbunan, said Tuesday that athletes were expected to increase their confidence and learn from the championships.

"From this event we expect to see Thailand's surfers progress at the championships," he said.

Thailand most likely will be Indonesia's major opponent at the SEA Games.

Raymond expressed his optimism that national surfers would do better in these Games because they have been training for seven months.

At the last Games, Indonesia won one gold (Oka Sulaksana) and two silvers (Miki Sampelan and Agus Faisal) in surfing. (yan)