FORKI to select kata karatekas for Southeast Asian Games

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Karate-Do Federation (FORKI) still plans to announce its athletes names in the technical meeting, although it staged a competition on Monday to select kata karatekas to compete in the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Brunei Darussalam next month.

FORKI's athlete development deputy, Armen Lukas, said he would have to report the selection results to chairman Wiranto before announcing the names.

"We will keep the results until the technical meeting in Bandar Seri Begawan. We don't want to lower their fighting spirit by announcing their names before the competition," he said.

Indonesia's karatekas will fight from Aug. 8 to Aug. 11, while the Games take place from Aug. 7 to Aug. 15.

World Karate Federation (WKF) referee Jesse Toelle said all karatekas were in poor physical condition, adding that they must improve their footwork.

"I don't know why their physical conditions have dropped. I wonder if they perform under pressure. I also warned the kata coach on their poor footwork. The coach said she had difficulty correcting their footwork," he said.

"Technically, karatekas should try to polish their motions. Some of them performed below standard."

Senior kata karatekas Abdullah Kadir in the men's individual and Omita Olga Ompi in the women's individual had overwhelmed their juniors, Aswan Ali and Endah Jubaedah respectively. Kadir scored 67.2, 0.1 points higher than Aswan, while Omita earned 66.6 points compared to Endah's 66.

Kata coach Christine Taroreh said her karatekas were below their peak form because they were bored with the training.

"It always happens. One week before the competition, they should recover and gradually reach their peak form. Today, they performed under pressure, which made them explode their power and failed to display beautiful movement," she said.

Christine also said that if Omita could perform in the Games, she would surely win gold in the women's individual.

"Omita performs extraordinarily. She is leading now. She must maintain her condition if she wants to win."

Christine hoped Kadir would be able to face tough contender Filipino Richard Lim.

"I heard Lim would compete in the Games. He will make a strong rival to Kadir. He must work out on his power to overcome Lim," she said.

Japanese coach Masao Kagawa, who was invited by FORKI to improve national karatekas' performances, arrived on Monday. Kagawa, the public relations manager of the Japan Karate-Do Association (JKA), would brief Indonesians in a one-week training session here starting on Tuesday. (ivy)