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)