National cyclists to train in Australia
National cyclists to train in Australia
JAKARTA (JP): An 18-strong national cycling team wants to fill
the shoes of the Australian junior champions and win more gold
medals during the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Chiang Mai,
Thailand in December.
Technical Director of the Indonesian Sport Cycling Association
(ISSI), Didi Soedijanto, said here yesterday that the national
team would undergo a three-month training stint under Shyne
Bannan, the coach who led the Australian squad to six gold medals
in the recent world junior championships.
Bannan is also coaching the Australian team for the Olympic
Games.
The overseas stint will start early in September, but ISSI has
yet to ratify the line-up of the team. ISSI has already picked 18
out of 29 men's and women's cyclists to form the backbones of the
national team for the 18th SEA Games from Dec. 9 to 17.
"Only Nurochman, Andry Sudrajat, Muhamad Nur and female
cyclist Nurhayati are assured of places on the team so far," Didi
said.
The cyclists will not take a break at home after their
Australian outing. Instead, they will directly fly to Chiang Mai
after completing their training program. The SEA Games cycling
competitions are scheduled to start on Dec. 6.
National coach Puspita Mustika Adya said his team should have
a better chance to win six golds from the women's 3,000m
individual pursuit, women's 3km road race, men's sprint, men's
4,000m pursuit, men's 1,000m individual time track and men's
100km team trial track.
Puspita, formerly a national ace cyclist, complained that the
18th SEA Games Organizing Committee had passed a ruling which
prohibits a cyclist to compete in both track and road race
events.
"The ruling has no legal basis. It will play havoc with our
gold medal chances, mainly in the women's competitions," Puspita
said. He added that Nurhayati, the only one to give Indonesia a
cycling gold medal in the last SEA Games in 1993, is expected to
shine in the two events.
"We are looking forward to hearing from the International
Cycling Union over the unpopular ruling," Puspita said.
Nurhayati has expressed her intention to focus on her favorite
road races. (amd)