Asiad veterans must qualify for SEAG

JAKARTA (JP): Asian Games veterans must win at the Golden Gloves national boxing championships at the end of March to qualify for the training program for the 20th Southeast Asian Games, a coach said on Tuesday.

Ferry Moniaga said the tournament, which will take place in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara from March 22 to March 26, would serve as the mandatory test for all boxers aiming to don the national colors at the SEA Games in Brunei in August.

"There will be no privileges for those who were groomed for the Asian Games last year. We will give equal treatment to everybody," said Ferry, who is also deputy chief of training and coaching affairs of the Indonesian Amateur Boxing Association (Pertina).

Pertina deputy secretary general Didiet Soedijoto said earlier that six Asian Games veterans would be named for SEA Games duties.

Ferry said Pertina would pick 30 out of 48 boxers who will take part in the Golden Gloves to join the centralized training program for the SEA Games. While other boxers have to win qualifying bouts in their respective provinces, 10 top national boxers who attended the Asiad training stint receive automatic berths for the annual tournament.

The boxers will come from 18 provinces, including East Timor.

Ferry said preparations for the SEA Games would begin a week after the Mataram event. The boxers will be divided into two or three groups to enable them to train intensively.

The coach said only 11 boxers would go to Brunei.

"We hope to send boxers in all categories except the heavyweight division," the former Asian champion said, adding that Indonesia has not had a good heavyweight for more than a decade.

He said middleweight Albert Papilaya, who lost in the quarterfinals at the Asian Games, had confirmed he would seek another appearance at the SEA Games. Albert had previously been reported to be considering retirement.

Ferry said Pertina was still undecided whether to hire Cuban coach Julio Lee Hechavarria again for the SEA Games. "The chairman will decide this matter soon," he said.

He also said that boxers who join the SEA Games training program would also be groomed for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. This means they will compete at three Asian Olympic qualifying tournaments, in Tashkent from Oct. 3 to Oct. 10, in Seoul from Jan. 25 to Feb. 1, 2000, and in Bangkok from June 1 to June 7. (yan)