Indonesia not hoping too much in taekwondo
Indonesia not hoping too much in taekwondo
JAKARTA (JP): Smarting from a series of upset defeats in the
last two Southeast Asian Games, Indonesian taekwondo athletes
have set their sights on no more than two gold medals in Chiang
Mai, Thailand, in December.
"I am convinced it is the most realistic target. Thank God if
we could win two more," Daniel Makhes, training director of the
Taekwondo Indonesia organization, said after making a courtesy
call to Chairman of the National Sports Council, Wismoyo
Arismunandar, prior to his team's departure for the Japan Open
yesterday.
"We came with a big team with absolutely enough preparations
in the past, but we managed only two golds," Daniel recalled.
"Non-technical burdens as a visiting team cost our gold medal
winning chances," he added. Of nine Indonesian male and female
taekwondo masters who made it through the finals in the in the
1993 meet in Singapore, only Rahmi Kurnia and Anis Dewi won.
Taekwondo Indonesia is grooming 19 athletes for the Dec. 9-
Dec. 17 SEA Games under tutelage of coach Oh Il-nam from South
Korea, the home of the martial art. The athletes completed their
two-month stint in South Korea last month.
Oh, who has been working for the organization for more than
six years, said yesterday that Indonesia could not expect to take
more than four medals. "Thailand looks to dominate the women's
division and the Filipinos are strong in the men's category," he
said.
The coach added that his trainees's readiness should match
that of their prospective opponents at the Games. "Our athletes
are now 30 percent away from reaching their peak performance," he
said.
Daniel will take a four-strong team to the one-day
international men's taekwondo championships in Osaka on Monday.
Heavyweight Andri Halim, who won an Asian Games bronze medal
in the middleweight class, welterweight Dasantyo Pribadi,
featherweight Fino Indra Permana and finweight Mehmed Sakolli are
making their debut in the annual tournament.
"They are our SEA Games medal winning hopefuls," Daniel said.
The Japanese outing will serve as the final tryout for the
national team before entering the SEA Games.
Athletes from South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Chinese
Taipei, Germany, Spain and the United States will turn up for the
taekwondo event. (amd)