Boxing body replaces Paene for Cuba stint
Boxing body replaces Paene for Cuba stint
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Amateur Boxing Association has
dropped flyweight La Paene Masara from a pre-Asian Games training
stint in Cuba after missing regular workouts for a week without
giving notice.
The association's chairman, Sang Nyoman Suwisma, said on
Thursday less experienced Damianus Jordan had been named a last
minute replacement for La Paene, who is a 1997 Southeast Asian
Games gold medalist.
"I'm very disappointed with his departure. He violated
disciplinary rules four times during the training program for the
upcoming Asian Games," Suwisma said.
Damianus, an Asian Championships bronze medalist, will join
featherweight Hermansen Ballo, welterweight Bara Gomies and
middleweight Albert Papilaya in the two-month overseas training
program. They will leave the country on Sunday.
But Suwisma said the door remained open for La Paene, the only
Indonesian boxer who reached the quarterfinals in the Atlanta
Olympic Games in 1996, to return to the Asian Games training camp
at the Pencak Silat dormitory in East Jakarta.
"I still consider him a member of the team who will represent
Indonesia in the Asiad," Suwisma said.
La Paene was among the country's leading athletes who received
government awards during a National Sports Day celebration in
Surabaya on Sept. 9. But he parted with his team and has yet to
show up at the training camp since then.
He said the boxer had previously complained about family
problems. "I told him to call me anytime he had problems, but he
never did," said Suwisma, who is chief of Tanjungpura Military
Command overseeing Kalimantan.
Coaches Julio Lee Hechavarria of Cuba and Wiem Gomies will
also accompany the boxing quartet.
"They can train together with Cuban boxers, who are being
groomed for the World Junior Boxing Championships in Argentina
late this year," Hechavarria said.
Ballo, one of the three Indonesian boxers who won 1997 SEA
Games gold medals, said the Asiad would serve as a stepping stone
for the 2000 Olympic Games.
"My main target is to qualify for the 2000 Olympics, so I have
to win in the Asiad," he said.
Suwisma said the Cuban stint would cost the boxing body Rp 350
million (US$31,820). The money came from businesspeople, he said.
Volleyball
The National Sports Council announced later on Thursday that
it would send the men's volleyball team to the Asiad to replace
the national soccer team.
"Volleyball is the second most popular sport in the country
after soccer," said Mochamad Hindarto, the national team training
director, explaining the reason for the volleyball team's
inclusion.
He said the national spikers, who finished third in the Asian
Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, in July, were expected to at
least reach the quarterfinals.
The council is doubtful the volleyball team can win any medals
in the Asiad, according to Hindarto. "They won the Asian
Championships bronze in the absence of the continent's
heavyweights, China and South Korea."
Hindarto said the national volleyball team deserved a place in
the contingent bound to Bangkok because of its SEA Games winning
tradition since 1981. It just missed the gold in 1985 and 1995.
Indonesian spikers were absent in the last two Asian Games in
1990 and 1994.
Volleyball training director Suharsono said the decision would
boost the sport's development in the future.
"Our target is to improve our ranking of 10th in the 1986
Asiad," he said.
The top seeds at the Asiad are China, Japan, South Korea and
Taiwan. Other strong opponents for Indonesia are Iran,
Kazakhstan, Thailand, India and Pakistan.
Suharsono said his team plan to train in Changdu and Guangzhou
in China for two weeks next month. (yan)