Indonesian archers shine at Canberra

Indonesian archers shine at Canberra

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian male and female leading archers
Hendra Setijawan and Nurfitriyana Lantang outdid their Australian
opponents in the Olympic division finals of an archery tournament
in Canberra, Australia.

Nurfitriyana beat Australian best Michelle Tremelling 106-103
in the women's division. Hendra Setijawan pipped Australia number
one Jackson Fear 110-104 in the men's division. It was the best
score Hendra has ever garnered.

Syafrudin Mawi and his female teammate, Hamdiah, both finished
third with 102.

The tournament which pitted archers from Indonesia, Australia
and New Zealand started on Nov. 4 and ended on Monday at the
National Sports Club's archery field in Canberra.

Indonesia fielded the team being groomed for the 18th
Southeast Asian Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand, scheduled for Dec.
9 to Dec. 17. Australia and New Zealand, on the other hand,
fielded the teams they are preparing for the 1996 Olympic Games
in Atlanta next year.

For the Indonesian archers, the tournament was the last tryout
prior to their participation at the SEA games.

Indonesia will send eight archers to Chiang Mai. The male
archers are Ditto Rembran, Hendra Setijawan, Syarifuddin Mawi and
Wahyu Hidayat. Their female teammates are Dahliana Damanhuri,
Nurfitriyana Lantang, Hamdiah -- a trio which won the bronze
medal at the 38th World Archery Championships in Jakarta last
August -- and Lusia Elizabeth Sampow.

Indonesian team manager, Edo Rohantoknam, told reporters
yesterday that "from this result, we can already figure out how
the archery competition at the upcoming SEA Games would look
like".

"In the first instance, we wanted three from the four gold
medals up for grabs at the Chiang Mai SEA Games. But given these
impressive results, I'm pretty sure we can make a clean sweep,"
Edo said.

Australian national coach Steven Jamison commented that
Indonesia's participation at the tournament was beneficial for
his archers.

"They got the experience of competing against world-class
archers," he said. (arf)