Chinese coach to lead RI divers to SEA Games

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian aquatic sport authority has turned to China in an effort to step up the performance of its divers ahead of the upcoming Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

"China's (aquatic sport body) has informed us of the coach's name: Zhang Gyun. He will arrive here in August," Harly Ramayani, the national coach, told The Jakarta Post while supervising her proteges at practice at the Bung Karno Swimming Pool here on Monday afternoon.

Eleven of the 12 divers -- six men and six women -- were practicing. Among them was Shenny Ratna Amelia, the gold medalist in the 10m platform event of the 1999 SEA Games in Brunei Darussalam.

Harly admitted she was not familiar with the Chinese coach, but said she was optimistic about the coach's abilities not only because China was the stronghold of the diving world, but also because the coach had been recommended by former national coach Zhong Shao Zhen.

Zhong was the Indonesian team's coach from 1995 to 1997, during which time Harly was the assistant coach. Harly said Zhong was now the Chinese national coach.

"I trust Zhong. She did a good job during our two-year partnership," Harly said.

In regards Zhang Gyun's upcoming task, Harly said, "The divers have shown significant improvement since our training started early March, but I want them to be at their best.

"We expect Zhang to polish the divers' abilities. They still have to work on their entry into the pool."

A fixed eight-strong lineup is expected at the end of June, after which the squad will carry out three overseas outings: The 10th FINA World Swimming Championship in Barcelona in July; Universiade in Daegu, South Korea; and the Asian Age Group Championships in Macau in August.

The next SEA Games will be held in Vietnam in December, where the Indonesian diving team will be pinning its medal hopes on Shenny while looking for another from the remaining squad members.

"We will not preoccupy ourselves with a target. We prefer to talk about prospects -- Shenny remains our best prospect. We hope she will take her 1999 winning run to Vietnam.

"We also have realistic hopes for another gold medal, either in the men's event or the women's synchronized event," Harly said, adding that Malaysia and Thailand should be tough rivals at the SEA Games.

Indonesia's diving team hopefuls are: Rohmat, Ahmad Sukron Jamjani, Dennis Harimurti, Husaini Noor, M. Nasrullah and Sidik Agus for the men's team; Shenny Ratna Amelia, Sari Ambarwati, Herliani Dias, Treviani Dias, Dwi Lidia Sari and Della Dina Sari for the women's team.