Indonesia sends four boxers to King's Cup
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)