Lifter Lisa may compete in different weight at SEAG
JAKARTA (JP): Olympics silver medalist women's weightlifter Lisa Rumbewas will likely participate in the 53-kilogram instead of the 48-kilogram weight division in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Kuala Lumpur in September.
The Indonesian Weightlifting, Powerlifting and Bodybuilding Association (PABBSI) official in charge of athletes development, Steve Tengko, said on Tuesday that the division change would be decided by Lisa's coach Lukman.
"Lukman will decide if Lisa is fit to participate in the 53- kilogram division," he told reporters.
Steve said PABBSI was aiming to come home with five of 12 golds at stake at the Sept. 8 to Sept. 17 Games.
Lisa became the first Indonesian lifter to bring home the Olympics silver after lifting 105.0kg in clean and jerk and 80.0kg in snatch for a total of 185.0kg.
Teammate Sri Indriyani earned the bronze in the same division while Winarni took the bronze in the 53-kilogram.
Since early this year, Lukman had modified Lisa's training program to allow her to compete in the 53-kilogram division.
However, Lisa performed poorly at the National Weightlifting Invitation in January, which also served as the Games selection, by lifting a total of 107.5kg in her new class.
Steve said Lisa would join the SEA Games nucleus team along with Indriyani, Winarni and Tanti Pratiwi.
Tanti set a new national record in the 58-kilogram class after lifting a total of 192.5kg. She managed to sharpen the national record in clean and jerk by lifting 112.5kg, 7.5kg more than the old record set by Patmawati.
"We are planning to select one more women's lifter for the 48- kilogram division. We have already selected two candidates, Rosmaniar and Tati," Steve said.
He also said PABBSI had selected four men's lifters for the core team.
"We plan to call eight men's lifters to the team. We will select two more lifters for the 62-kilogram division but we have yet to decide on the other two," he said.
PABBSI would select three men's lifters -- Gustar, Zulkarnain and Nursyanto -- for the 62-kilogram division.
Other weightlifters on the list are Yadi Setiadi and Herry Setiawan (56-kilogram), Erwin Abdullah (77-kilogram) and Joko Hanggono (+105-kilogram).
Erwin improved his own national record of 142.5kg in snatch by lifting 143kg in June's event. He also broke his clean and jerk record from 185.0kg to 185.5kg, and created a new national record, under his name, from 327.5kg to 328.5kg.
Yadi won three golds in the second Asian Youth Weightlifting Championships last November in the snatch, clean and jerk, and total, and sharpened three records originally set up by Yang Jian-gun of Chinese Taipei.
Joko, the 2000 National Games gold medalist, earned two bronzes in the same event. He managed to set a new total lift record of 336.0kg in June's tryouts.
"We are not putting too much hope on Joko as he'll be facing strong contenders from Thailand who are very dominant in the heavyweight division," Steve said.
He said Yadi and Lisa would also compete in the Asian weightlifting championships from July 12 to July 17 in Chonju, South Korea.
"Yadi and Lisa will fight for a berth to represent Asia in the AEFRO intercontinental weightlifting championships to be held in November in India." (ivy)