Junior lifters to get experience in Warsaw

JAKARTA (JP): A team of three lifters will represent Indonesia in the 22nd junior world weight lifting championships in Warsaw, which are starting tomorrow.

Budi Santoso, general affairs official of the Indonesian Weightlifting Association, said yesterday that two boys and a girl from Lampung, the country's weight lifting powerhouse, had been named for the nine-day world meet after a series of national selections last month.

Misdan and Joni will compete in the 59-kilogram and 54kg divisions respectively, while Sri Indriyani, the only girl in the national team, will be in the 56kg division.

"We only hope they can get as much experience as possible of world-level competition," Budi said about the team led by Sonny Tobing.

Southeast Asian Games silver medalist Indriyani, 18, stole the show at the Kartini Cup national championships in Bogor, West Java last month when she broke two Asian records.

She hoisted 96.5kg to beat the Asian clean and jerk mark of 95 and combined a total lift of 170kg to eclipse the Asian record by a whopping 12.5kg.

Indonesia's 10-strong team finish 14th in the 20th meet here two years ago, thanks to a bronze won by 54kg Erwin Abdullah. Bulgaria came out as the overall winner with a massive point total of 358.

A gold medal is worth 16 points, a silver 14 points and a bronze 13 points in the junior weight lifting championships.

Budi also said that four other Indonesian lifters, two of them female, had left for Kazakhstan for the Asian Championships now underway, which are due to end this weekend.

Sutrisno and Tri Haryanto will be bidding for Asian laurels in the men's 60kg and 82.5kg category respectively. In the women's event, Agustina will compete in the 67.5kg class and Rukiana in the 82.5kg division.

"We are gunning for four gold medals and want to break world records in the Asian meet," Budi beamed. (amd)