Badminton body wants 20 shuttlers in Asian Games

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Badminton Association asked the National Sports Council yesterday to send a letter to the Bangkok Asian Games Organizing Committee (BAGOC) to change the number of shuttlers allowed to compete in the quadrennial event in December.

The association's athletes development deputy, Hadi Nazri, told reporters yesterday that BAGOC had decided to permit a maximum of eight male and eight female shuttlers from each country.

"But we'll ask the council to lobby the organizers to change the decision and let participating countries have 10 male and 10 female shuttlers in each team, as we have for the Thomas and Uber Cups," he said after a meeting with the council's Asiad task force.

The reason for increasing the number of players is to enable coaches to make more combinations of shuttlers during the tournament.

Hadi said the association would start its centralized training at the Badminton Training Center in Cipayung, East Jakarta, on Jan. 20.

"The council has agreed to finance half of our total training budget," he said.

The council will send the athletes to Singapore soon for biomechanic tests to "improve their technical skills".

Hadi said that the association would have to work hard to ensure the shuttlers peak twice, in the Thomas and Uber Cup championships in Hong Kong in May and the Asian Games.

The association will send its shuttlers to compete in the Japan Open next week and the All England championships in March as warm ups for the Thomas and Uber Cups.

"The association's chairman will announce the Japan Open participants on Friday after revising the name list. The reasons for the revision are that for the players to be prepared to compete, they must be able to reach their peak, and the association must be able to prepare all supporting facilities," Hadi said.

Judo

The Indonesian Judo Association's secretary, Aji Kusmantri, said that the association was grooming three athletes -- Kresna Bayu (men's under-90 kgs), Aprilia Marzuki (women's under-65 kgs) and Praptiningsih (women's under-52 kgs) -- for the Asiad.

"As their sparring partners, the association is preparing Wayan Sutikno (men's under-71 kgs) and Ira Purnamasari (women's under-52 kgs). The association started its centralized training program in Ciloto, West Java, since December," he said.

Aji said the association planned to send the three judokas to compete in the National Police Chief Cup championships here in March and the Asian Students Invitational Meet in Bali in August.

"They will also have tryouts in South Korea in July and in Germany, where they will compete in the Germany league, in August. We expect them to increase their self-confidence through these tryouts," he said.

Coaches Putu Armika, Ni Putu Suyudani and Pujawati will accompany the judokas during the tryouts.

Aji said the association aimed to win three bronzes at the Asiad.

"In the 1990 Asiad in Beijing, Indonesia only won one bronze from Pujawati. Based on the results of the Asian Championships in Manila, our judokas can all reach Asia's top five. We think they can maintain their form in the Asiad," he said.

Karate

Separately, Boy Crane, the athletes development deputy of the Indonesian Karate-do Federation, said that the federation was grooming five female and seven male karatekas.

"The council agrees to finance half of our training budget," he said.

Boy said the federation would start its centralized training in February, after the Idul Fitri holiday.

"It's better to stage a centralized training because we can control the athletes easily," he said.

Head coach Tono Soe'oed said the karatekas will have their warming up in the Ladies Cup in Tokyo in June and the World Karate Federation championships in Brazil in October.

"We won three silvers and two bronzes in the 1994 Asiad in Hiroshima from our seven athletes. We aim to maintain our achievement this year," he said.

The silver medalists at the 1994 Asiad were Abdul Kadir (men's individual kata), Metty Kaseger (women's over-60 kgs individual kumite) and Omita Ompi in (women's individual kata). The bronze medalists were Nurosi Nurasjati (women's under-53 kgs individual kumite) and Nilawati Daud (women's under-60 individual kumite).

The council provides Rp 45 billion for a three-month period.

The federation spends Rp 350,000 per athlete per month and Rp 750,000 per coach per month. It also spends Rp 50,000 per athlete per month on board and lodging and Rp 100,000 per month for the athlete's allowance and laundry fee.

Equestrian

Johan Pitoy, the research and development deputy of the Indonesian Equestrian Association, said the council was prioritizing the show jumping event.

"But the association is also preparing to compete in the three-day event. We are grooming eight athletes for the show jumping event and eight for the three-day event," he said.

The training program will start in March. The show jumping training will take place in Jakarta while the three-day eventers will be based in Bandung. No final decision has yet been taken on which events Indonesia will contest.

"We aim to win the bronze in the show jumping and the individual and team three-day events," Johan said.

Johan said the association planned to have tryouts in Asia, Europe and Australia but did to mention when. (yan)