28 sepaktakraw athletes to represent RI at Asiad
28 sepaktakraw athletes to represent RI at Asiad
JAKARTA (JP): A team of 28 Indonesian athletes will compete in
the sepaktakraw event at the 13th Asian Games (Asiad) in Bangkok
this December, a sports official said yesterday.
Beddu Amang, chairman of the Indonesian Sepaktakraw
Association, said in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, yesterday
that he hopes the national squad for the traditional Southeast
Asian ball game would consist of 14 men and 14 women.
The athletes will compete for the six Asiad gold medals up for
grabs in the men's and women's regu (three players), team events
(three regu or nine players) for both sexes and men's and women's
circle.
"We will select the athletes during a number of regional
tournaments and the national championship in Bandung in June,"
Beddu was quoted by Antara as saying after opening the regional
sepaktakraw tournament yesterday.
The recruits will undergo a six-month training session here,
which is to serve as the final selection process for Asiad, he
said.
The National Sports Council has announced that sepaktakraw is
one of 21 events Indonesia will take part in at Asiad.
Chairman of the council Wismoyo Arismunandar was also present
at the opening ceremony. He installed the new executive board for
the South Kalimantan sports council for the 1998/2003 period,
which is chaired by Governor Gusti Hasan Aman.
Beddu said he would discuss his plan, to send a large
sepaktakraw team to Asiad, with Wismoyo.
Later in the day, Beddu announced that Indonesia would host
the Anniversary Cup sepaktakraw championship for women here in
December.
The international tournament will be held to commemorate the
country's 52nd Independence Day.
Beddu said the national women's sepaktakraw team could perform
better than it did last time, when it finished third behind
Thailand and Myanmar.
When asked about this year's agenda, Beddu said the
association had planned to send athletes to the King's Cup in
Bangkok, Isa Cup in Kuala Lumpur, Hanoi Cup in Hanoi, Singapore
Cup in Singapore, the Philippine Cup, and Arafuru Cup in
Australia. (lnt)