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)