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)