Kadir eager to watch successes as a coach

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Former national karate star Abdul Kadir seems to be relishing his new role as a trainer of the Indonesia's Southeast Asian (SEA) Games hopefuls, expressing keenness to pass over his knowledge and skills to his juniors.

"I'm proud to have been part of the team that bore Indonesia's flag in international tournaments. I now accept the training challenge, which gives me another chance of basking on victories in a different appearance," Kadir told The Jakarta Post at the office of the Indonesian Karate-Do Association (Forki) here on Wednesday.

"I will assume this task seriously and try to make the best of it," said the 36-year-old, who retired from the tournament in 2000 after he had been a regular slot in the national team since 1991.

During his athlete career, Kadir managed to reach the final at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima, Japan, as he lost in the final match.

His last achievement was at the 1999 SEA Games in Brunei Darussalam where he collected his second gold at the regional multi-event sporting meet. His first was in Manila in 1993.

"It must be different between to play and to train. A good athlete doesn't automatically give a good training. The coaching technic is something we should obtain from outside the playing court," he said.

Kadir is one of the seven coaches recently assigned by Forki to prepare the athletes for the next SEA Games which will be held in Vietnam this December.

As many as 40 karatekas in 19 classes are on the trainee list. They were finalists at the national championship a couple of weeks ago in Kutai, East Kalimantan, which is also the training venue beginning on Thursday.

Asked about his assessment of the athletes' strength against their regional rivals, Kadir said he could not make an account as yet.

"They must have defects which need to be improved within the next six months, but I can't say it now because we have not got in touch with the athletes yet," he said.

The athletes will have to undergo another two selection fields between June and July to make for the team.