National windsurfers to get training in Europe

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)