Local judokas win Wismoyo Cup title
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian men's and women's teams won the Second Wismoyo Cup Judo International Championship that concluded in Jambi on Sunday with six golds, seven silvers and 10 bronzes.
Defending champions, South Korea's men's team, finished second with six golds and one silver, followed by India with four golds, three silvers and two bronzes.
Ira Purnamasari of Indonesia and Young Ho-sheo of South Korea were selected as the best female and male judokas at the championships over the weekend.
National judokas, who are being groomed for the 19th SEA Games here in October, used the championship as a tryout before the biennial Games.
But, the national judokas, including the 1995 SEA Games gold medalists Kresna Bayu and Maruli Simanjuntak, could not stop South Korea's domination in the open division.
Ira beat Fanny Phie in the open class of the women's all- Indonesian final.
Unfortunately, Ira's success was not followed by her teammates as they failed to win in their classes.
Taty Rohaety lost to India's Mefa Sharma in the women's 52kgs class while Shanti Selviana lost to India's Tyo Finder Kaur in the women's 46kgs class.
In the men's division, Pieter Taslim lost to Indian Prashant Parma in the 65kgs class while Maruli lost to South Korean Fung Hak-lee in the 71kgs class. Tri Handoyo lost to Warender Singh of India in the 60kgs class.
South Korean coach Park Han-cha said Indonesian judokas had good technical skills but needed to work harder to improve their physical condition.
"They found it difficult to beat our second string athletes," he told Antara.
The championship was played out between South Korea, Chinese Taipei, India, Malaysia, Thailand and nine branches of the Indonesian Judo Association.
Referees
Meanwhile, the Kompas daily reported that judo referees had protested because the event's organizers had only paid for their fares from Jakarta to Jambi.
The organizers only paid Rp 390,000 (US$150) per referee although some came from other provinces. They are Yan Mantiri (North Sulawesi), Ansar Aksan (Central Sulawesi), Mirhansyah and Sudirman Basuki (East Kalimantan) and Sultan Wahid (South Sulawesi).
"How could they do this to us? I came from Manado (North Sulawesi) with a one-way ticket which I bought with money I borrowed from a friend. How can I get home if the organizers pay for a ticket to Jakarta only? The association's invitation said the organizers would pay our fares," Yan Mantiri complained.
The association's secretary-general, Aji Kosmantri, said he had had to delay his flight due to the problem.
"I never imagined it would end this way. The association will give a Rp 100,000 honorarium to each referee. I hope the association will also pay for their tickets later, but it probably will not be immediately," he said.
Taiwan referee Lee Kao Jung said referees were given $50 for each competition they refereed in his country. (yan)