Indonesia dominates pencak silat c'ship
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian fighters showed their dominance on the first day of the 2000 Pencak Silat World Championship at Pencak Silat Center in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah on Wednesday.
Indonesia deployed eleven fighters in both the men's and women's divisions but two of them had to make early exits.
Tina Martina was easily beaten 0-5 by Trinh Thi Muy of Vietnam in the women's C (55-60kgs) class while Alfana also had to bow out 0-5 to Mastura binte Sapuan of Malaysia in the women's D (60- 65kgs) class.
Teammate Septi Hariandja managed to beat Wendy Pieters of Belgium 4-1 in the women's E (65-70kgs) class. Septi will see Evangeline Caguiqoa of the Philippines, who beat Spaniard Magdalena Sofia.
Dwi Damayanti ousted Norsharina of Brunei Darussalam 5-0 in the F (70-75kgs) class and is scheduled to meet Le Thi Hong Ngoan of Vietnam, who beat Carol Pearce of Australia.
In the men's division, Abdul Karim had an easy victory as opponent Nguyen Thant Thuy was declared overweight in the A (45- 50kgs) class. Abdul will face Khairul Almin of Brunei Darussalam in Friday's semifinal match.
Playing in the D (60-65kgs) class, Abas Akbar crushed Spaniard Rico Rodriguez 5-0. The 1999 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games medalist will meet Dutch Roy E. Josefzoon in the quarterfinals.
In the E (65-70kgs) class, Haris Nugroho eliminated Dutch Jan van Houten 5-0 to face Malaysian Nordin bin Atan in the quarterfinals.
Fentje Roike Maengkom defeated Dutch Martijn Houwerzul 5-0 in the F (70-75kgs) class. Fentje is to take on Ronald Perena of the Philippines in the quarterfinals.
In the G (75-80kgs) class, Rony Syaifullah overcame Belgian Verduin Jan 4-1. Rony will face Pascal Seifenhofer of Switzerland, who beat Italian Emiliano Ruggeri, in the quarterfinals.
Sigit Infantoro eliminated Roberto Chiong of the Philippines in the H (80-85kgs) class to see Peter Raumuaf of Austria who beat Spaniard Blazquez Villaescusa Alberto in the quarterfinals.
Samuel Mallo also beat his opponent Landajo Echavarria of Spain in the heaviest J class (90-95kgs). Samuel will challenge Frenchman David Sebastian, who beat Tony Shergill of the United Kingdom.
Commenting on the fighters form on the opening day, head coach Suhartono admitted that Indonesia had to work hard as currently other countries were speeding up in developing the sport.
"Several European countries and Vietnam have shown a great improvement specially in the women's division. For our side, we neglected regeneration by relying too much on veteran fighters in previous SEA Games," he told reporters.
"We must be very careful especially with Vietnam because they have the best women fighters now."
Suhartono was responsible for developing Vietnam fighters under a five-year contract which ended recently.
"When compared to European fighters, we still have better skills but lack of physical qualities such as stamina and postures. We have to develop special tactics to beat them," he said.
"Anyway, we must be proud that currently the power is evenly distributed among participating countries. On the other hand, Indonesian fighters have to train and work harder to keep up the lead."
Later in the evening, the championship saw the qualifying rounds for martial arts events in both divisions.
On Thursday, the championship will continue with qualifying rounds for other weight-classes. (nvn)