National jumpers told to become achievers

JAKARTA (JP): Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Hayono Isman urged national skydivers to improve the country's achievements in international events.

"We hope our skydivers can do the same as our shuttlers who achieved world ranking," Hayono told participants of the Six World Parachuting Championships on Canopy Formation at Lido Lake Resort, Bogor, West Java, on Friday.

Hayono urged the national team to produce a better record in the championships, to help make the event a success for Indonesia.

"The national teams should set a specific target in the championships, not just take part. It will be useless if we can only be a host without producing a better record," he said as quoted by Antara.

Vice Marshall Purnomo Sidhi, chairman of the organizing committee, said that 18 countries have confirmed their participation in the 10-day championships due to wind up on June 24.

Delegations from South Africa, the United States of America, Australia, China, the Netherlands, Finland, England, Italy, Germany, Canada, Malaysia, France, Russia, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, Turkey and host Indonesia will compete in three categories: four-way canopy rotation, four-way sequential and eight-way speed formation.

"There are 216 skydivers, 136 of them are foreigners," he said.

Indonesia is represented by the Aves Club from Bandung, West Java, the Army and Air Force special forces. The Army's special forces team, which will compete in four-way canopy rotation, was the winner in the Malaysia Open championships last month.

Participants start competing today until June 24, before they go to Central Java for a series of bogey jumps at the Borobudur and Prambanan temples. (yan)