KONI recruits five new trainees for Busan Asiad

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Shuttlers Taufik Hidayat and Emma Ermawati are among the five new recruits the National Sports Council (KONI) have included in its tentative list for the 2002 Asian Games.

The other three are judoka Eka Setia Wirawan, lifter Sunarto and badminton trainer Joko Supriyanto.

Taufik, who helped the Indonesian badminton team retain the Thomas Cup for an unprecedented fifth time in a row in Guangzhou, China, in May, stood in for junior Soni Dwi Kuncoro, who has been eliminated.

"I talked with him in Guangzhou about his possible availability for the Asian Games, and he gave me his commitment that he would play his best," Imron Z.S., the training director, told reporters here on Tuesday.

"In terms of quality, Taufik is far ahead of Soni. We can rest our hopes on him. As he is in, we have also called up his coach Joko," Imron said.

He reiterated KONI's policy that only athletes with good medal prospects would be sent to the Asian Games, which will be held in Busan, South Korea, from Sept. 29 to Oct. 14.

The recruitment of the four athletes and a coach was announced only a week after KONI distributed a letter, the copies of which were made available to the media, about the exclusion of as many as 34 athletes and coaches.

Included in the excluded list was Emma Ermawati. Her return to the training camp, according to Imron, was based on the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) suggestion that Emma would have a realistic medal hope if she paired up with Tri Kusheriyanto in the mixed doubles.

Indonesia plans to compete in 18 events in Busan. There were 170 athletes at the start of the training camp, before KONI whittled down the number to the current 130.

Further elimination, according to Imron, is very likely before KONI sets up a fixed number of the contingent by the end of July.

"We will keep on monitoring the athletes. When they are deemed unable to live up to our expectations, we will ground them," he said.