Indonesia to select lifters for SEA Games

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Weightlifting, Powerlifting and Bodybuilding Association will stage the final selection for the 19th Southeast Asia (SEA) Games weightlifting team this week.

The association's secretary-general, Djoko Pramono, said Monday that 30 lifters would try out in the one-day selection on June 27.

Twenty three lifters, nine women and 14 men, who are being groomed at the Gajahsena dormitory in Bogor by coach Harry Wibowo, will compete with seven lifters, four women and three men, who are being trained by Imron Rosidi in Pringsewu, Lampung.

"The association decided to precede the selection before the deadline on Aug. 1, because we want to give the lifters time to adapt to centralized training," Djoko said.

All athletes chosen for the national squad will have to train in Jakarta.

Young lifters who fail to qualify for the SEA Games will still train for the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok and the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

Djoko said all lifters would train in Bali early next month to for a change in training environment.

Coach Harry Wibowo said the association would send Harry Setiawan, Erwin Abdullah, Fatmawati and Sriyani to the Senior Asian Weightlifting Championships in Yiang Zu, China, from July 5 to July 15.

"It's the best tryout to give competitive conditioning," Harry Wibowo said. "Our target is to get silver or bronze but not gold. China's lifters are much better than ours."

Harry said he was a little worried about Thailand's lifters whose strength cannot be known.

"The championships will be the best time to look at Thailand's lifters to know their strength for the SEA Games," he said. (yan)