Lack of bouts blamed for Bangkok dismal run
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Boxers and trainer have blamed their dismal performance at the recently concluded Kings Cup championship in Bangkok on the lack of practice bouts ahead of the competition.
Four Indonesian boxers headed to Bangkok only to return home with three of them losing out in the opening stage. Only Bara Gomies, in the 71-kilogram category, fared better, winning a bronze medal.
The three contenders were Willem Papilaya, Bonyx Saweho and Stevie Binalay. The Kings Cup concluded last week, with Thailand's A team the overall winners, claiming seven gold medals.
"After the SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, we only had three months of training without any tournaments to practice fighting in," said 27-year-old Willem here on Monday.
"Our rivals on the other hand had participated in two or three tournaments," he added. Willem was beaten by the eventual silver medalist Ashgar Ali of Pakistan.
Coach Carlos Torre Perreira said tournaments were important to train the boxers' speed and gauge their own strength after a given period of training.
Meanwhile, Didiet Soedijoto, vice secretary-general of the Indonesian Amateur Boxing Association (Pertina), refuted the claim that the Indonesian boxers had lost because of the tough opposition.
"All our opponents looked on good form at the tournament. And looking at the points they scored, our boxers proved they were not easily beaten.
"We are disappointed because we would have loved to win at least a gold medal.
"We were lucky to be one of the ten medal-winning teams among the 21 participating countries," he said.
The four are part of the 170-strong Indonesian contingent to the Asian Games, which is scheduled to take place in Busan, South Korea, in October. Indonesia will compete in 19 sports.
Didiet disclosed a series of tournaments the boxers were likely to take part in ahead of the Busan trip.
"We will field them at the National Golden Glove championship and see if they can earn a place in the Asian Games," Didiet said.
The Golden Glove championship will run in Manado, North Sulawesi, from April 22 to April 27 and feature around 100 boxers from 29 provinces.
Sparrings with local boxers, some of who are professional, have been planned. Semarang, Bandung and Bogor are the likely choice of sites.
Pertina has also set aside a plan for its Asian Games hopefuls to join the Asian Boxing Tournament in Kuala Lumpur in June before looking to Cuba to set up camp.