Forki proposes 10 athletes for 'Indonesia Rises' program
Forki proposes 10 athletes for 'Indonesia Rises' program
Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian Karate-do Association (Forki) has proposed ten
athletes to be included in the 'Indonesia Rises' program, an
association official said over the weekend.
The 'Indonesia Rises' program, unveiled by the National Sports
Council (KONI) recently, is aimed at recruiting the one 100 top
athletes from various sports so as to mount strong challenges in
international tournaments, especially the 2006 Asian Games.
Speaking about medal prospects in Qatar, the host country of
2006 Asian Games, Ahmad Budu, the head of Forki's athlete
development division, said that the number of gold medals they
would be seeking would greatly depend on how many athletes would
be included in the program.
"If KONI includes eight athletes in the program, we have the
chance of winning one gold medal. However, if the council accepts
all ten as we propose, I am confident we could get two. I
guarantee that," Budu told reporters after a Forki meeting on the
preparations for the Asian Karate Federation Championship to be
held in Chinese Taipei in early February.
The 10 candidates are Syarif, Bambang Maulidin, Christo
Mandolu, I Ketut Murti, and Donny Dharmawan in the men's
category, and Jenny Zeannet, Telly Melinda, Puspa Meonk, Nurahmi
and Kartika Ekawati in the women's.
Bambang and Jenny contributed two of the four gold medals the
Indonesian karate squad won at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in
Vietnam last December.
Syarif and Kartika, both 18 years old, are young and have a
great deal of potential, with the former winning a silver medal
at last year's World Karate Championships in France and the
latter being the champion of last year's Batam tournament.
Aside from the athletes, Forki also nominated six coaches to
participate in the program: Ahmad Budu, Tono Soe'oed, Syamsudin,
Ardi Ganggas, Mohammad Nurzaman and Nurasi Nurasjati.
KONI is hopeful that the Indonesian athletes can improve their
Asian Games performance after a dismal performance in the 2002
edition in Busan, South Korea.
Indonesia finished in 14th place in Busan, collecting four
gold, seven silver and 12 bronze medals, with Karate contributing
one gold and one bronze.
The gold haul was two lower than Indonesia brought home in
1998, when the contingent also added 10 silver and 11 bronze
medals to its tally.
Indonesia's best performance in Asian Games' history was in
Jakarta in 1962, which was the fourth edition of the quadrennial
event, when it finished in second place.