Badminton star dominate Best Athlete nominations

Badminton star dominate Best Athlete nominations

JAKARTA (JP): Badminton stars dominate the list of nominees
for the 1996 Best Athlete competition run by the Jakarta Chapter
of the Sports Journalists Association.

In a meeting Tuesday, the association announced that the top
awards are expected to be handed over to shuttlers and top
badminton officials, Antara news agency reported yesterday.

Ricky Subagdja and Rexy Mainaky, gold medalists at the Atlanta
Olympics, were chosen for the best athlete in the men's division.
The other candidates are GM Utut Adianto (chess), Ade Rai
(bodybuilding), Sutrisno (powerlifting) and Hengky Lasut and Eddy
Monoppo (bridge).

In the women's division, the nominees for 1996 Best Athlete
included badminton players Mia Audina and Susi Susanti, and also
Catherine Surya and Elsa Manora (both swimmers), Yayuk Basuki
(tennis), Upi Damayanti Thamin (chess) and Sri Indriyani (weight
lifting).

The Thomas and Uber Cups teams were nominated as the Best Team
for 1996, followed by the men's bridge team and women's chess
team.

Badminton coaches Christian Hadinata and Atik Jauhari, were
selected as the Best Coaches, along with Retno Kustiah, a women's
badminton coach and Imron Rosadi, a heavyweight coach from
Lampung.

Announcement

The election of Best Athlete has become an annual event for
the association. The announcement and presentation of awards will
take place in mid-February.

Meanwhile, Hermensen Ballo, a national boxer from East Nusa
Tenggara, was chosen as the best boxer during the Golden Glove
Boxing Championship.

Ballo, who is being trained for the forthcoming SEA Games, won
the award after defeating his close rival La Paene Masara on
points in the match which ended Tuesday.

Ballo received a training fund of Rp 1.5 million.

Although Dedi Mikaso from Bogor lost to Otong Kokasih on
points, his good performances earned him the favorite boxer
title. He received a certificate plus Rp 1 million in training
funds. Bara Gomies from Maluku received Rp 500,000 after
defeating Amri Yusran. (lnt)