International shooters meet in Bali

International shooters meet in Bali

Wahyoe Boedhiwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Sanur, Bali

As many as 480 shooters from 32 countries are presently
participating in the AustralAsia 2004 Shooting and Shotgun
Championship being held at Serangan Island, 18 kilometers south
of Denpasar, from Nov. 27 through Dec. 4.

Organized by Indonesia's branch of the International Practical
Shooting Confederation (IPSC), the championship, the first of its
kind held in Indonesia, is categorized as Level IV.

Taking part at this level are shooters from the United States,
France, the Philippines, Italy, the Czech Republic, Australia,
Thailand and Finland.

"The Indonesian Shotgun Championship, however, is categorized
at Level III," explained Soeroso during a press meeting here in
Sanur.

The current shooting and shotgun championship, he said, is
like a miniature of the world championship because many
international shooters, including 1999 and 2002 world champion
Eric Grauffel from France, are taking part in the current event.

Grauffel arrived on the island of Bali late Saturday night
after a few hours delay in Singapore.

In addition to Graufell, more than 10 world-class shooters are
also participating in this championship.

Indonesia will feature 110 shooters including Roi Harianto
from Surakarta, Central Java, in the open-class, Frans Paul from
Jakarta in the standard class, Agus Supartono from Bandung, West
Java in the production class, and Glen Clinton from Bali in the
revolver class.

Bambang Trihatmodjo, chairman of the organizing committee and
chairman of IPSC Indonesia, told reporters that the objective for
this championship is to bring Indonesia into the top five in the
production class, the top ten in the open class and the best five
in the revolver category.

"The success of the AustralAsia Shooting and Shotgun
Championship will become our trademark to promote Indonesia as
the host for the coming World Championship," said Bambang.

Soeroso added that this championship would also become a
significant training ground for Indonesian athletes.

"This is a good opportunity to learn various techniques,
strategies as well as the latest equipment currently used by
international shooters," he exclaimed.

Meanwhile, president of IPSC, Nick Alexakos, considers the
quality and standard of Indonesian athletes to be improving over
time.

"I look forward to seeing the coming results. I hope the host
shooters can grab as many medals as possible," he said.

Despite unfavorable news on Bali and Indonesia in the
international media due to security and other reasons, IPSC
decided to hold the AustralAsia championship on the island of
Bali.

"The show must go on and I found the facility here has been
excellent so far," Alexakos said.

He added that the IPSC would consider appointing Indonesia to
host the 2008 World Championship. Ecuador, he said, will host the
championship next year (2005).

Sunday's championship presented Indonesian shooters in various
categories, while the international shooters will start competing
on Monday (Nov.29).
(Schedule for Monday, Nov.29: Handgun Match from 8 a.m. through 5
p.m.)