Asian Games squad meets Soeharto today
Asian Games squad meets Soeharto today
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto will receive the Indonesian
Asian Games team at the State Palace today, before they depart
for the Hiroshima sports meet.
Most members of the contingent are scheduled to depart Sunday
evening.
The squad will, no doubt, be expecting a "Knute Rockne" speech
from the President before it embarks on its bid to finish sixth
at the Oct. 2-16 Games. The team will be accompanied by Minister
of Youth Affairs and Sports Hayono Isman and chairman of the
national sports governing body (KONI) Surono.
Indonesia managed to finish seventh four years ago in Beijing
with three golds, six silvers and 21 bronzes. Now, the athletes
are eying at least eight gold medals from badminton, tennis,
boxing, weightlifting, archery, fencing and rowing competitions
in Hiroshima.
The contingent, made up of 139 sportsmen and women, will
compete in 23 out of 34 events. This year's Asiad will see 42
participating countries, including five newcomers from the former
Soviet Union republics, battling for 337 golds up for grabs.
The KONI executive chairman said yesterday that members of the
karate, judo, equestrian, table tennis and swimming teams will
skip the meeting with Soeharto since they are still on overseas
training stints in the USA, Japan and China.
"They may fly to Hiroshima directly after completing their
overseas training," Soeweno said.
Soeweno said KONI is making the final preparations for the
Games. "We have distributed lists of banned drugs to all coaches
and doctors who will accompany our athletes to the Games,"
Soeweno, who will lead the national squad to Hiroshima, said.
Soeweno also said that KONI had adopted Antonius Gregorius
Trutman of Cuba, in place of national boxing coach Fery Moniaga,
to join the Asiad team. Trutman was hired by the national amateur
boxing body (Pertina) to train a team of seven on his home soil
for two months.
Ferry joins his two sidelined boxers, light middleweight
Hendrik Simangunsong and middleweight Albert Papilaya, who were
dropped from the team due to their disappointing performances in
overseas training.(amd)