Medal winner Indri following in the footsteps of her father

BANGKOK (JP): Sri Indriyani may not be as well-known as the Indonesian badminton players, but the weight lifter stole the limelight after winning the country's first medal at the 13th Asian Games.

Making her Asiad debut, the diminutive Indriyani took a bronze medal in the 48-kilogram division with a total lift of 180 kilograms.

However, Indri, as her friends call her, admits she was once reluctant to train. It was her father, Moelyadi, a former weight lifter, who encouraged her to take up the sport.

"First, I just watched my father training, but finally I started to train in 1989 and I enjoyed it," the 20-year-old remembers.

She says that her mother, Darmini, also plays a key role in her successful career.

Indri, who was born in Surakarta, Central Java, on Nov. 12, 1978, joined the weigh lifting club in Pringsewu, Lampung in 1995 and began to train under the tutelage of top national coach Imron Rosadi.

She says that she was obsessed with making money from the sport and buying a motorcycle when she decided to follow in her father's footsteps.

Eventually, a blend of Imron's patience and Indri's talent paid off. Indri won three gold medals at the 1996 Asian Junior Championships in Seoul, and in the same year she also won three golds in the World Junior Championships in Warsaw.

A year later, she defended her title at the World Junior Championships in Cape Town.

She competed for the first time as a senior in the 1997 Southeast Asian Games in Jakarta, and won a gold with a record- breaking lift.

Indri, an employee at the state-owned PT Pos Indonesia in Lampung, said that she did not want to think about a cash bonus for her medal. The National Sports Council has promised Rp 15 million (US$2,000) for a bronze medal.

"I don't want people to think that I'm a money-oriented woman."

The eldest of three girls, Indri realizes that her career still has a long way to go.

"My main goal is to qualify for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, with God's blessing," she said.

She was granted a scholarship from Olympic Solidarity in October. (yan)