Aprilia, Bayu to join German Open

JAKARTA (JP): Women's judoka Aprilia Marzuki and men's judoka Kresna Bayu will compete in the German Open judo championships in Frankfurt on Aug. 13 and Aug. 14 as a warm-up for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Indonesian Judo Association (PJSI) official in charge of athletes development Subardi Suar said on Tuesday the association had not set any specific targets for Aprilia and Bayu, who compete in the 70-kgs and 90-kgs divisions respectively.

"We want the judokas to gain experiences from fighting for the first time with Europeans. They are used to competing with Asian judokas. Hopefully they can do their best," Subardi said.

He also said that the judokas were expected to beat Asia's best fighters at the 2002 Asian Games in Pusan, South Korea.

Aprilia and Bayu earned Olympic tickets after finishing third and fourth respectively in the Asian Judo Open Championships in Osaka, Japan, last month. (ivy)