Indonesia eyes gold medal in world tae kwon do meet
Indonesia eyes gold medal in world tae kwon do meet
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia hopes to win a gold medal through Alfons Lung at the tae kwon do world championships, which start today in Manila, the Philippines, and run until Nov. 21.
But the 1994 Asian Games silver medalist told The Jakarta Post yesterday that a bronze medal would suffice because he was not fully recovered from an arm injury he suffered at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima.
"I have not had enough preparation. I began to train eight hours a day for the championships just four weeks ago," the featherweight said. In Manila, he expects the toughest competitors to be from Latin America, Egypt and the United States.
A total of 83 teams are expected to compete in the championships. Tae kwon do, a Korean martial art, will make its Olympic debut in Atlanta next year.
Lung, who has been under the tutelage of South Korean coach Oh Il-nam since 1989, was ousted in the qualifying round of the 1993 world championships in New York, the United States.
The fifth-semester management student said he opted out of the upcoming 18th Southeast Asian Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand, because he wants to concentrate on his studies.
Lung is among eight tae kwon do athletes, five of whom are males and the other three females, who went yesterday to Manila to take part in the biannual championships. Lung's male teammates are Bodhi Saputra (pinweight), Ade Yudha Lubis (flyweight), Eko (bantamweight) and Iwan Gunadi (lightweight).
His female teammates include pinweight Andriani Tri Asmara, the silver medalist of the Vietnam Open tae kwon do championship, which was held from July 21 to July 23 in Hanoi.
Weight lifting
Indonesia is also taking part at the World Weight lifting Championships in Guangzhou, China, which start today and runs until Nov. 26.
Supandi and Rusli (both weigh 54 kg), Zulkarnaen (49 kg), Catur Maesfudi (70 kg) and Asep Rahmat (76 kg) form the national weight lifting team, in place of lifters who will represent Indonesia in 18th Southeast Asian Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand next month. All five muscle men have failed selection tests for the games.
The Guangzhou championships will serve as a qualifying round for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. A lifter needs to finish between 17th and 25th in each category to secure an Olympic berth.
"I did not risk sending my SEA Games lifters to Guangzhou, because a lifter needs at least three months rest after a competition," Madek Kasman, training director of the Indonesian Weight lifting and Power lifting Association, said. (arf/amd)