Karatekas Oemar, Jenny set for World Games

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Karatekas Oemar Syarif and Jenny Zeannet will take part in the World Games in Duisburg, Germany, in July thanks to the golds they won at the Asian Karate Federation (AKF) championship last year.

The head of foreign affairs for the Indonesian Karate-do Federation (Forki), G.A. Pesik, said on Tuesday that Forki received an invitation from the Games' organizing committee to send the two.

"We actually have three champions from last year's AKF, namely Oemar, Jenny and Telly Melinda. But Telly has not been invited to the World Games as her 48 kilogram weight class is not featured there," Pesik said.

Oemar will compete in the above 80 kilogram class, while Jenny is entered in the under 53 kilogram class.

Pesik did not want to set targets. "We just expect both athletes to do their best in the World Games," he said.

The seventh World Games, to be held from July 14-24, will feature 40 sports, with 3,500 athletes from 100 nations expected to take part.

The World Games, under the patronage of the International Olympic Federation, is a multisport event created in 1980 by 12 international sports federations for sports that are not included in the Olympic Games.

Its aims include creating more exposure in the media and increased interest from spectators, which would assist the federations in developing their sports.

The 12 international sports federations that initiated the Games were the International Badminton Federation (IBF), the International Baseball Federation (AINBA), the International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB), the International Bowling Federation (FIQ), the International Casting Federation (ICF), the International Softball Federation (ISF), World Union of Karate-do Organization (WUKO), the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF), the International Roller Skating Federation (FIRS), the World Tae kwon do Federation (WTF), Tug of War International Federation (TWIF) and World Water Ski Union (WWSU).

Badminton, baseball, softball and tae kwon do are no longer included in the Games as they are now -- provisionally or otherwise -- part of the program of the Olympic Games.

World Games have been held in Santa Clara, U.S. (1981), London (1985), Karlsruhe, Germany (1989), The Hague, Netherlands (1993), Lahti, Finland (1997) and Akita, Japan (2001).