Catherine set to win call-up for SEA Games

JAKARTA (JP): Catherine Surya appears certain to be called upon to don the national colors at the upcoming Southeast Asian Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

An official of the Indonesian Swimming Association secretariat, Dedeng Kurnia, said yesterday that Catherine was among favorite nominees of the national swimming squad, after her resounding performance during a national selection here over the weekend.

"We are pinning our hopes on her in at least the 200-meter butterfly and the 400-meter freestyle during the Games," Dedeng said. Catherine, making her first appearance after serving an 18- month ban for drug use, beat the time limits as well as national best swimmers in the two races on Sunday.

Dedeng said that the national swimming federation had expunged the bitter memory of the incident which resulted in Catherine's banning and is now hoping she will bolster Indonesia's title defense campaign in the December Games.

Catherine splashed to seven golds and two silvers in her record-shattering first appearance at the 1993 National Games. A drug crackdown a few months later found a trace of the anabolic steroid nandrolone in her urine. At 13 years of age, Catherine became the youngest Indonesian athlete ever to serve a ban.

An Australian laboratory issued a drug-free certificate for the teenager in August, while she was on a three-month stint there.

Along with Catherine, regular backbones, such as Elsa Manora Nasution, Meitri Widya Pangestika, Olga Halim, Richard Sam Bera, Wisnu Wardhana and Sutanto, twin of Albert and Felix, also look certain to represent Indonesia in Chiang Mai.

Dedeng said the association will select between 16 and 20 male and female swimmers from 28 trainees now being groomed at the Senayan swimming pool. "We will hand the line-up of the team to the National Sports Council by Oct. 15," Dedeng said.

The SEA Games swimming competition will provide 38 gold medals, the second largest gold mine after track and field, but Indonesia has set itself only a modest target.

"At least, we will manage to retain the six gold medals we took at the previous meet in Singapore," said Dedeng.

Meanwhile, earlier on Wednesday, national swimmer Vidi Lukman Korompis died after a year's struggle with cancer of the throat. The 22-year-old native of Bandung, West Java, skipped his American stint prior to the 12th Asian Games last year to undergo medical treatment.

Vidi was the second national athlete to die in the past four days, after equestrian Andy Junaidi, also of Bandung, was killed while practicing on Sunday.

Vidi, who never missed international events under Indonesia's banner, set the national 200m butterfly record of 2:04.70 at the 1993 National Games. (amd)