Five Indonesia's tae kwon doins vie in World Championships

JAKARTA (JP): Five national tae kwon doins who are being prepared for the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games are competing in the World Championships in Canada.

Pino Indra Perdana, Derry Dermansyah and Satrio Rahardani will compete on the men's side while Juana Wangsa Putri and Sinta Berliana Heru are to fight on the women's side.

Three of the five athletes -- Satrio, Juana and Sinta -- won medals at the 13th Asian Games in Bangkok last year. Satrio won the silver the other two won bronzes.

The Indonesian Tae kwondo Association (PBTI) secretary- general, Zarkasih Hamid, said on Monday that the championships, taking place from June 2 to June 7, would serve as a warmup before the five tae kwon doins compete in the pre-Olympics qualification.

All tae kwon doins have been trained in South Korea since April and are expected to perform their best in Canada.

"We haven't given them any target in the World Championships, but we expect them to perform their best based on their overseas stint results. The championships are the best event to warmup in before the pre-Olympics qualification," said Zarkasih, who is accompanying the athletes at the championships.

Zarkasih said most countries that are strong in the sport would send their athletes to the championships including the original country of tae kwon do, South Korea.

"This is the perfect moment for our athletes to measure the strength of the Koreans," he said, as quoted by Media Indonesia.

The athletes will compete in the pre-Olympics qualification first stage in Zagreb from July 11 to July 18 and the second stage in Manila on Sept. 25 and Sept. 26. Tae kwon do will be featured for the first time in the Olympics in September next year in Sydney.

Another 18 national tae kwon doins have been groomed for the SEA Games in Wiradharma Hall in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, under the supervision of South Korean coach Oh Il-nam.

Indonesia will send 16 athletes comprising eight men's and eight women's tae kwon doins to the biennial event in Brunei Darussalam from Aug. 7 to Aug. 15. (yan)