National men's basketball squad waiting for 3 athletes to show up
National men's basketball squad waiting for 3 athletes to show up
JAKARTA (JP): The national men's basketball team is still
waiting for three more members to confirm their participation in
the tryouts for the SEA Games team.
The Indonesian Basketball Association's spokesman, Lutfi
Sukri, said yesterday that Firmansyah, Ronald Median and Theng
Kun were supposed to have confirmed by Jan. 5, the deadline for
all the players.
The association is trying out 20 male and 20 female basketball
players, all of whom must come to Jakarta for training camp
should they live outside of the city. Fifteen athletes will be
chosen this April for the final training squads, but only 12 will
make it onto the team.
The 19th SEA Games are scheduled to be held here from Oct. 11
to Oct. 19.
Russian coach Nikolai Arkhipov held a training session for the
men yesterday at the Senayan Basketball Hall and was assisted by
Indonesia's Cecep Firmansyah and Abdulrahman Padang.
Lutfi said that no women players have reported for training
camp. The women's team will be coached by Wang Chang You of
China, who will be assisted by Sim Kim Lay and Ridwan Prayogo of
Indonesia.
Fictor Roring said that five athletes -- Wahyu Widayat, Ocky
Tamtelahitu, I Nyoman Suwandi, Cokorda Raka and himself -- were
suffering on Tuesday from diarrhea, which he blamed on the food
at their hotel. But all four, with the exception of Fictor,
joined the rest of the athletes in their work-out. Fictor said
that he had to rest up for at least one more day.
Meanwhile, an official from the Indonesian Cycling
Association, Didi Sedijanto, said that three of its cyclists will
not be joining the SEA Games team. Herry Janto Setiawan, Hengky
Setiawan and Tubagus Maulana declined to join, citing business
and school reasons.
Didi said that Hengky will be replaced by Krisyanto or Teguh
Eko Pambudi, Herry by Dadang Haris Purnomo or Deddy Resdian while
Maulana will be replaced by Tonton Susanto.
SEA Games training director Djoko Pramono said that despite
their absence he was still confident.
"There are no more problems in the association. It has assured
me that its athletes will be able to win 10 golds in the biennial
event," he said.
Djoko also said that he would look into the rumors that
members of the women's sepak takraw team had decided to stop
training during the fasting month. A notice was reportedly found
on a door near the training area saying that the training
schedule had been postponed until after Idul Fitri.
A number of reporters who had arrived yesterday to interview
the athletes were also disappointed to find that none of the 18
athletes were practicing.
Julius Tetelepta, the sepak takraw coordinator, said the
rumors were false.
"It's not true that they are not practicing during the fasting
month," Julius said.
In March, the association, which is hoping for at least two
golds in the women's events, is to select 15 women for the main
team.
Djoko said that he would also speak to officials from the
Indonesian Table Tennis Association to find out why Anton Suseno
did not want to join the squad.
Anton recently refused to go to China for an overseas training
bout, saying that the Chinese athletes chosen for sparring would
not help his performance. (yan)