National windsurfers to get training in Europe

JAKARTA (JP): Eight national windsurfers will prepare for the 19th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games for two weeks in the Netherlands, Denmark and France.

Coach Iskandar Sitompul said yesterday eight of the team's 11 athletes would prepare in Europe. They will leave mid-June.

The eight windsurfers include seven men and one woman. They are currently training at Ancol resort in North Jakarta while another athlete, Oka Sulaksana, is training in his native Bali.

"The eight athletes are selected from the 11 at the training at Ancol in November last year," Iskandar said.

The trial matches in Europe will boast world-class windsurfers.

"We hope Oka can be in the best 15 windsurfers. The trial matches will become a barometer for the SEA Games," Iskandar said.

Iskandar thanked the Indonesian Sports Council (KONI) and the navy chief for providing Rp 400 million worth of windsurfing and sailing equipment.

"With the new equipment, the athletes can concentrate more on their training. During training on Thursday, the windsurfers contested a 13-kilometer race which they managed to do in only one-and-a-half hours," Iskandar said.

But the athletes complained about how much money they were getting during training. Each athlete gets Rp 40,000 a day of which Rp 35,000 is used for accommodation at the Graha Wisata Remaja Ancol.

"The remaining Rp 5,000 is for food. This amount is certainly not enough if we want to get good nutrition," one of the athletes, Yuni Trisnawati, was quoted by Antara as saying.

Yuni thanked the coach for looking after his athletes by providing fruit and noodles.

Iskandar has called on KONI to increase the pocket money to the windsurfers.

"If possible, I would propose at least Rp 75,000 a day," he said.

The coach said he thought Indonesia could grab at least two of the five windsurfing gold medals on offer at the 19th SEA Games in Jakarta in October.

In the 18th SEA Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Indonesian windsurfers won one gold, two silvers and two bronzes. Oka won the gold. (lnt)