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)