Beach spikers to tour Australia ahead of 2002 Asian Games

Beach spikers to tour Australia ahead of 2002 Asian Games

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesian beach volleyball players plan to tour Australia for
around eight weeks as part of their preparations for the 2002
Asian Games in Busan, South Korea.

During their Australian outing, which will start next January,
the national squad is scheduled to take up a series of matches
with local clubs.

"We want to extend further their training workout so that they
can achieve good results at the 2002 Asian Games," Rita Subowo,
chairwoman of the Indonesian Volleyball Association (PBVSI), told
reporters here over the weekend.

The Indonesian team bound for Australia comprises six men,
under the coaching of Slamet Mulyanto, and four women, under
Australian head coach Ken Breen.

The association will drop two of the male players for a fixed
four men's and four women's team for the Korean trip.

Rita said based on their recent showings, the beach volleyball
players would stand a realistically good chance of winning medals
in Busan.

"We have reached finals on many occasions. Hopefully, we can
win a gold at the Asian Games.

"We have to admit that we are not well informed about the
opponents' strengths, but we will be striving hard to win the
gold medal," Rita said.

At the last Asian Games in Bangkok in 1998, the Indonesian
male team of Irikhun Sofanna and Agus Salim fell short of winning
the gold after being defeated in the final.

After their Australian outing, the current national players
are scheduled to carry on with the World Series, with the aim of
improving their world rankings. They will put a final touch on
their Asian Games preparations at the Asian Beach Volleyball
Championships in Bali early in September.

PBVSI has decided against sending an indoor volleyball team to
Busan, following its dismal performance at the recent Kuala
Lumpur SEA Games where the men's team, which had made medal-
winning a tradition, was dumped from the top three.