Karatekas hoping to reach their peak in Cebu City

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After a difficult year of poor results and discord within the team, national karatekas are hoping the worst is behind them.

With some promising recent results, they are hoping to peak at the 23rd Southeast Asian (SEA) in the Philippines, where karate is one of the sports being held in Cebu City in late November.

Mohammad Umar Syarif gave the team a boost by winning the European Master Cup 2005 early this month.

"I think Umar's victory in the European Master Cup, which hadn't been done by Asian fighters in the past 20 years, is a sign of the return of our karate fighters," national squad head coach M. Gusti said on Wednesday.

It was a welcome return to the podium after the fighters were shut out of the medals at the 2004 worlds, the 2005 Islamic Solidarity Games and the 2005 Asian Karate Federation (AKF) Championship.

The Indonesian Karate-do Federation (Forki) concluded that the string of poor results was due to disharmony between coaches and athletes, a finding which led to the replacement of head coach Ahmad Budu with M. Gusti.

In recent months the athletes have been able to focus on their training in new surroundings. From May to early August, the athletes relocated from Jakarta to Samosir, North Sumatra.

Bambang Maulidin, a gold medalist in the 55 kg division in Hanoi, acknowledged the change in training location made him more focused because there were fewer distractions.

Bambang has overcome personal tragedy this year; his parents and two younger sisters were killed in the Dec. 26 tsunami that swept away his family home in Banda Aceh.

Fighter Rizky Syahbana has said he was more motivated to prove that he could contribute his best in the SEA Games after the recent poor showings.

M. Gusti said he expected other karate fighters would emulate the success of Umar, who also won a gold in the 80 kg in Hanoi.

For Cebu, Forki is preparing 20 athletes with a target of five golds, surpassing its four golds, five silver and seven bronze from Hanoi.

"We will see the progress of other athletes when we have a duel meet with Malaysian karatekas next week in Jakarta," he said of a showdown with the fighters who took two golds in the Islamic Solidarity Games.

"Malaysia is always good in Southeast Asia and their fighters have improved fast."

Women fighters are also scheduled to compete in the Women's Islamic Games in Iran from Sept. 22-Sept. 28.

The squad will then go to the Malaysia Open from Sept. 29 to Oct. 3.

-------------------------------- National team

Men Mohammad Umar Syarif Christo Mondolu Ismail Aswar Rizky Syahbana Donny Dharmawan Bambang Maulidin Bisma Yulian Faizal Z.N. Rommy Yanuar Aswar

Women Puspa Meonk Jenny Zeannet Telly Melinda Yessy Mariance Nurahmi K.S. Yulianti Syafruddin Alit Tresna Yuli Ekayanti Dewi Yulianti Puspita Triana Gustin