Four female weightlifters likely to miss PON for Olympics
JAKARTA (JP): Four Indonesian women weightlifters -- Sri Indriyani, Lisa Rumbewas, Winarni and Supeni -- will likely miss the 15th National Games (PON) in Surabaya in June due to their training program for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney in September.
The Indonesian Weightlifting, Powerlifting and Bodybuilding Association (PABBSI) secretary general, Djoko Pramono, said he would still have to discuss with national coach Imron Rosadi if the four lifters would be allowed to represent their respective provinces at PON.
Djoko said the National Sports Council (KONI) had sent notification to PABBSI urging them to be responsible for any injuries sustained by athletes at PON that might spoil their chances of competing at the Olympics.
"We have to focus on the bigger target. The Olympics is the biggest sports event in the world, so we have to skip the smaller event in order to reach our goal. I can't forbid or allow them to compete in PON because I will discuss it with Imron first," he told reporters on Monday.
Djoko said PABBSI was hoping the lifters win Olympics medals.
He said most athletes were eager to compete in PON because the provincial authorities offered them cash bonuses.
"But KONI has promised to provide bonuses for athletes who withdraw from PON to attend a centralized training program for the Olympics."
Indonesia has three tickets to the Olympics after finishing eighth at the World Weightlifting Championship in Athens, with one gold and four silver medals.
The International Weightlifting Federation rules state competitors who are ranked between seventh and ninth at the championship earn three tickets to the Olympics.
Djoko said the centralized training program for the women lifters would start on Jan. 1.
"They will train with their respective coaches. In June, the training will be centralized in Lampung with Imron as the coach."
Indriyani and Winarni are training in Lampung, Lisa is in South Kalimantan and Supeni is in Ragunan, South Jakarta. Indriyani and Lisa compete in the 48 kgs division while Winarni and Supeni are in the 53kgs division.
Djoko said Indonesia would not send men's weightlifters to the quadrennial event.
"Only the world's top 12 qualified for the Olympics. Erwin is only ranked 19th. We decided to use the money -- which earlier was allocated to send him to the final Olympics qualifying round in the Asian Championships next year -- for grooming the women lifters instead," said the retired Marine major general.
Djoko, who is also chairman of the Indonesian Scuba Diving Association (POSSI), disclosed that four sports organizations, including POSSI, had to pay transportation and accommodation fees to the PON organizers.
He said he refused to pay, saying POSSI could manage transportation and accommodation without the organizers' help. But POSSI would pay for the medals fee.
"We can arrange board and lodging by ourselves. We will not pay for the security fees. I can arrange to field Marine units as security guards for the event. We can also hire Marine trucks to transport our athletes to their venues," he said.
He said that each sports organization was required to pay Rp 1.2 billion (US$171,430). "We have counted by ourself, and it turns out that we only need to pay Rp 300 million to the organizers for transportation and accommodation." (ivy)