Indonesian frontrunner crashes out of LG Cup

Indonesian frontrunner crashes out of LG Cup

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Derry Darmansyah, a national tae kwon do hopeful for the upcoming
2002 Asian Games, ignominiously crashed out early on the second
day of the 3rd LG Cup, which was marred by media threats to
boycott the tournament.

Derry had just returned home from his triumphant run in South
Korea only to find he was unable to keep up his form in the local
competition against Aziz Wildan of West Java at the Bung Karno
Tennis Indoor Hall here on Friday.

The Central Java team member was stunned 7-5 in the
preliminary round of the bantamweight competition and promptly
blamed lethargy and injury for the exit.

"I had only one week of preparation after I returned from
Korea. That was not enough time to return to top form," Derry
told The Jakarta Post. He contributed one of the four gold medals
the national team brought home from its Korean tryout.

"I still feel pain from my injury," the 22-year-old said while
pointing at his knee. He said he had picked up the injury during
the final match against a Chinese fighter.

Coach Bambang Wijanarko offered a morale booster to his
protege, saying that being fatigued had resulted in Derry's
inability to use his power.

"Derry did not look like he used to. He couldn't optimize his
tactics and became slow out there. His opponent came at him
first with an offensive," Bambang said.

Wildan cruised through with two other victims, Harry Ronald of
Bali and Wempit Kesowe of Papua, before he was stopped by
eventual champion Syafrizal Tanjung of Jakarta 6-3 in the final
match.

Jakarta took another gold through Ertina Novianti, who
defeated Erna Rima of Bengkulu in the women's heavyweight final.

Wildan was not too disappointed by the result as he said,
after his semifinal win over Wempit, that he was already relieved
to have reached the final.

Finalists are guaranteed to be called to the national training
center for the 2003 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Vietnam.

West Java made amends for Wildan's failure with wins in the
men's heavyweight and women's bantamweight divisions
respectively, courtesy of Ludwig and Farah Armand.

The overall champion in the 2001 season now leads the
standings with four golds, followed by Jakarta with three and
East Java with one.

The second day of the tournament was tainted by over-zealous
handling of security affairs, with journalists accusing the
security attendants, most of whom were plainclothed Marines, of
being excessive in their duties.

Not only did the rough behavior from security men provoke
verbal exchanges but it also resulted in restrictions on media
access, which meant that reporters had difficulty in approaching
their news sources.

Representing about 20 print and electronic media, the
journalists, in a letter addressed to chairman of the Indonesian
Tae kwon do Association (TI) Suharto, demanded the organizing
committee deal with the complaint, threatening otherwise to
boycott the event.