Latecomers likely for Olympics 2000

Latecomers likely for Olympics 2000

JAKARTA (JP): As it kicked off of its centralized training
program for the 2000 Olympics on Tuesday, the National Sports
Council (KONI) said it expected 12 more athletes to qualify for
the quadrennial event.

The 12 athletes are female judokas Prapti Ningsih and Aprilia
Marzuki; male judoka Krisna Bayu; female tennis players Wynne
Prakusya and Yayuk Basuki; and boxers La Paene Masara, Dedek
Chandra, Suwardoyo, Marwan Muling, Steve Binalay, Bara Gommies
and Willem Papilaya.

Prapti, Aprilia and Bayu are scheduled to compete in the Asian
Championship in Japan in May, which is also the Olympics'
prequalifying round. The boxers will fight in the prequalifying
round in Bangkok in June.

The council's spokesman, Ahmed Solihin, rectified a remark
made by Olympics training director Arie Sudewo on Monday saying
that the council was likely to exclude judo and wrestling from
the training programs.

"He (Arie) apologized for making a false statement. But
wrestling is excluded because we haven't prioritized the sport.
We won't add any new sports to our list," he told reporters after
a meeting with Olympics training officials.

The Indonesian Wrestling Association (PGSI) had scheduled to
send Dedy Wahyudi of East Kalimantan and Zulhaidir of South
Kalimantan to compete in the freestyle pre-Olympic qualifying
round in Tokyo from Feb. 25 to Feb. 27.

Until June, the council is grooming 71 athletes (39 men and 32
women) from 11 sports for the Olympics. After that period, it
will reduce the number to 44 (22 men and 22 women), while it
waits for the qualified judokas, tennis players and boxers to
join the final preparations which end before the Olympics.

The council has been prioritizing badminton in its training
programs as the sport has provided golds for Indonesia since it
first featured in the 1992 Olympics. Thirty-three shuttlers are
attending a training session at the Indonesian Badminton Center
in Cipayung, East Jakarta.

Tennis wild cards

Ahmed said Wynne was hoping to earn a wild card from the
Sydney Olympics Games Organizing Committee (SOGOC).

"We are still in the dark on her chances to get a wild card,
but we will try to get one for her. She is still young and
hopeful, and she is also one of our young athletes who receives a
scholarship from the Olympics Solidarity organization," he said.

However, his statement upset the Indonesian Tennis Association
(Pelti) spokesman, Benny Mailili. He said the council had no
right to decide which athletes had the chance to get a wild card.

"KONI cannot prioritize getting a wild card only for the
women's singles. It must also fight to get a wild card for the
women's doubles," he said.

Benny said requests for wild cards would be closed on March 1.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) will decide on who
receives them on July 10 and announce them on July 12.

"If Wynne wants to qualify for the Olympics, she must finish
in the top 110 in the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings,
while both Yayuk and Wynne must reach the top 200 to qualify in
the doubles," he said.

"Wild cards are only a back up for both players to be able to
compete at the Olympics," he added, saying that in the 1996
Olympics in Atlanta, Yayuk, world ranked in the 30s at the time,
and Romana Tedjakusuma qualified for the doubles after winning
the Asian Championships.

Yayuk, who was on maternity leave last year, is ranked 16th in
the women's doubles and is 55th in the women's single list, while
Wynne is currently at 182.

Sixty-four players, including 16 wild card holders, will
compete in the men's and women's singles events, while 32
players, including eight wild card holders, will compete in three
doubles events.

Benny said ITF would oversee which regions were to qualify its
players in the Olympics. Only regions which have few athletes
competing in the Olympics are likely to receive wild cards.

"In Asia, we have Japanese Ai Sugiyama, Chinese Taipei Janet
Lee, Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn and the Chinese players Li Fang and
Yi Jing-Qiang. It might be difficult to earn one more place for
the Asian region," he said.

Benny said both Yayuk and Wynne would not be able to join the
council's training programs as they must compete in 10 overseas
tournaments in the next five months. (ivy/yan)