ISSI hopes to win nine SEAG golds

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Cycling Association (ISSI) expects to attain nine gold medals at the Kuala Lumpur 2001 Southeast Asia (SEA) Games.

"We expect gold medals from the men's 4,000 meter individual pursuit (IP), the 4,000m team pursuit (TP) and the women's 3,000m IP in the track events," vice secretary general Sofyan Ruzian said on Friday as quoted by Antara news agency.

"Meanwhile in the road race events, we expect to grab three more gold medals from the men's 45 kilometers individual time trial (ITT) and women's 27km ITT and 69.5km road race."

ISSI also expected to get another three gold medals from both the men's and women's 1.5km down hill and the men's 36km cross country in the mountain bike (MTB) events.

"ISSI has called 50 cyclists to attend cycling training centers held in three different places: East Java for road race events, West Java for MTB events and Jakarta for track events," said Sofyan.

Eight coaches will supervise the training centers.

"We expect to start the training period next February. The cyclists will also take part in three events next year as part of their preparation," said Sofyan.

"The cyclists groomed for the SEA Games will participate in the Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia, the Asia Championship in Beijing, and the Tour d'ISSI national championship." (nvn)