Junior boxers need more time for SEAG
JAKARTA (JP): The head coach of the Indonesian boxing team for the 2001 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, Carlos J. Penate Torres, said on Monday that national junior boxers have yet to be prepared to compete in multisports events.
"I have been supervising the training of 12 juniors. They are ready to fight in the 2003 SEA Games instead of next year's event. They know nothing about boxing and they need to increase their competitiveness," he said.
Seven of his 12 boxers have been invited to join the SEA Games training. The Indonesian Boxing Association (Pertina) has listed 28 boxers for the training program. The number of boxers will be reduced to 11 before the Games.
The seven boxers are Bonix Saweho (finweight), Karel Muskanan (flyweight), Mohammad Ibrahim (featherweight), Roland Latuni (light flyweight), Melky Lelemboto (Light flyweight), Afriadin (bantamweight) and Jaya La Goga (welterweight).
Carlos said each boxer had to fight in, at least, 25 official competitions annually but Indonesian boxers currently only perform in an average of nine competitions.
"It's not enough for Indonesian boxers to perform in only nine competitions. They must also fight in a competition which has umpires and lots of spectators. It's good for their psychological development," the Cuban coach said.
He also expressed regret that Indonesia had been too slow in developing its juniors.
"When I came to Indonesia early this year, I found seven senior boxers here. But there were no young boxers to replace them when their seniors quit the ring," he said.
"The juniors only know how to fight but do not understand counter fighting, which is indispensable in modern boxing. They only strike their rivals but they don't use their brain to develop their effectiveness," he said while pointing his finger at his temple.
Torres said he had set up a long-term program for his junior boxers so that they could still train when their coach wasn't available. Torres' contract ended in December.
Meanwhile, Pertina's deputy secretary general Didiet Soedijoto said that the Cuba sport federation has agreed to extend Torres' contract for another one year.
"My contract is extended for one year until the SEA Games is over. After that, I don't know. But I will agree to extend my contract if I can bring my wife and children to Indonesia," Torres said.
In a related development, Didiet said that the President of international amateur boxing association (AIBA) Prof. Anwar Chowdry has asked Pertina last month to train women boxers.
Didiet said the Indonesian women boxers would be selected to compete in the women's world amateur boxing championships in New York, next November. The selection procedure will take place in China sometime in June or July next year.
Didiet said Pertina has yet to respond to the request, but he himself did not agree on the idea to train women for boxing.
"I don't see any reason why we should make preparations to train female boxers, when we need to initially focus on improving our male boxers," he was quoted by Antara as saying. (ivy)