Indonesia sends four boxers to King's Cup

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will send four boxers to the 22nd King's Cup in Bangkok today with no pressure of bringing home medals.

Coordinator of the national boxing training center Jetty R. Pattiasina said the tournament would serve as one of a series of international tests for Indonesian boxers, who are being groomed for the Asian Games in December, also in Bangkok.

The boxers heading for the Cup, scheduled for March 31 to April 7, are pinweight Damianus Jordan, flyweight La Paene Masara, bantamweight Martin Sihombing and welterweight Bara Gommies.

"Asian Games are our major target. We still have the President Cup and the World Cup to face in the process," Jetty said.

The President Cup, the only international boxing meet regularly held by Indonesia since the mid 1970s, will run in August, while the World Cup will be staged in Beijing in June.

Jetty said the current reshuffle of the national boxing body had contributed to its decision to send a small team to the King's Cup, which is considered a prestigious tournament sanctioned by the world amateur boxing association AIBA in Asia.

The new head of the boxing body, Maj. Gen. Sang Nyoman Suwisma, chief of Tanjungpura Military Command overseeing Kalimantan, replaced Paul Toding early this month.

Jetty said the boxing body picked the best pugilists for the Cup.

"All four have shown impressive progress during training in the past three weeks."

Training for the Indonesian Asiad team is now underway in Sentul, near Bogor, West Java.

Jetty said the national boxing body did not expect the four boxers to land medals, due in part to host Thailand's reign when competing on home soil.

"We expect the host team will take all. They deserve that because they always field the strongest boxers in all international events."

The body's former secretary-general, Didit Soedijoto, said yesterday that Indonesia had good medal-winning chances in a regional event like the King's Cup. He was referring to a gold and a bronze won by Hermensen Balo and Wilpare Jamhur last year.

Indonesian did not take part in the 1996 King's Cup as it was gearing up for the Olympic Games in Atlanta. (emf)