Karate body to select kata karatekas for SEAG

Karate body to select kata karatekas for SEAG

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Karate Federation (Forki) has
announced that it will decide on Monday which kata athletes would
compete in the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Brunei
Darussalam next month.

The decision, which was reached in a meeting on Wednesday
evening, ended the speculation on whether Forki would evaluate or
hold a selection process to pick the 21 athletes to compete in 19
events.

Karate training director Boy Crain said on Thursday that Forki
would select 15 out of 30 karatekas for kumite events by
evaluating their performances over the last year.

Boy held a special voting session on Tuesday with the
karatekas after a practice session to seek their views on the
selection process. Only seven of the 35 karatekas preferred to
compete to select one karateka per each weight category.

"The karatekas want to retain solidarity among them. They are
agreed to support whoever will be selected to compete in each
event. They also hoped to minimize the risk of injury by voting
for evaluation," he said.

However, all karatekas had asked Forki to announce the names
of 15 kumite athletes before the technical meeting on Aug. 7 in
Bandar Seri Begawan.

Forki chairman Gen. Wiranto had said that the federation would
send the whole contingent of 35 karatekas to Brunei, despite the
new rules of organizers that only one athlete is allowed to
compete in each division.

Abdullah Kadir and junior Aswan Ali will have to fight for a
ticket in the men's kata individual event while Omita Olga Ompi,
who will retire after the SEA Games, will face junior Endah
Jubaedah for a berth in the women's kata individual event.

Kata coach Christine Taroreh said Kadir was more consistent in
performance compared to Aswan and has achieved some titles in
regional tournaments including the SEA Games and Asian Games.

"We will see during the selection who is more powerful between
the two karatekas. Both have good technical skills but only those
who can perform with consistency will be selected."

Christine said both Omita and Endah had a chance to contribute
a gold and a silver if the two could perform together. Omita, who
won the 1998 Asian Games silver medal, is more experienced than
Endah.

"Omita said she would give the opportunity to Endah. But Forki
has refused her request to withdraw from the Games squad. She
should have performed well if she attended the training
regularly. People have faith in her. As for Endah, people only
see her as the second after Omita," she said.

Omita said Wednesday she had submitted her resignation letter
but Forki officials turned down her request saying the country
still needed her and she could resign after the Games. (ivy)