Neta to accompany Juana in Olympic warm-up tour

JAKARTA (JP): Young and self-motivated, junior tae kwon doin Rahadewi Neta will kick off her international debut by accompanying her senior, Juana Wangsa Putri, in a warm-up tour ahead of the 2000 Olympics Games in Sydney.

Secretary-general of the Indonesian Taekwondo Association Ahmad Zarkasih Hamid said the 15-year-old tae kwon doin Neta would compete in the women's junior lightweight division during the tour.

"We are looking for a substitute for Juana in the women's flyweight division. Neta will compete in the junior lightweight. But in the senior event, she will fight in the flyweight division," Zarkasih told The Jakarta Post and ANteve private TV station here on Friday.

Neta was surprised at learning of the association's decision. "I'm very happy. It's a miracle and it surprised me. I will train hard because I'm still a junior. I have not set any target, but I can learn from new experiences."

The decision to choose Neta was reached on Friday, Zarkasih said, adding that he had informed the association's chairman, Suharto, of the selection.

Neta was netted in the first LG Cup National Taekwondo Championship here in November, where she won a bronze in the women's flyweight division. Susilowati of Yogyakarta won the gold and Regina Maya of Central Java won the silver.

"Susilowati is 21 years old and she could no longer compete in the junior event. Besides, we are not choosing a sparring partner on the medals ground," Zarkasih said.

The association had earlier pledged to find a sparring partner who was under 20 years of age and from the same weight division as Juana. Neta is expected to replace Juana in the Olympics should a replacement be necessary.

Juana and fellow men's tae kwon doin Satrio Rahardani, a 1998 Asian Games silver medalist, are training in South Korea.

Neta will accompany Juana to compete in the U.S. Open in Honolulu, Hawaii, from Feb. 2 to Feb. 6, the Dutch Open in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, from March 10 to March 12, the Belgium Open in Brussels on April 1 and April 2 and the Korea Open in June. The association will need US$90,000 (Rp 648 million) to finance the tour.

He said that PT LG Elektronik Indonesia and a South Korean businessman would give financial support to Juana.

"Juana is scheduled to return to Jakarta this month to accept the contribution," he said.

Neta was born in Surabaya, East Java, on May 23, 1984. She said she learned about tae kwon do from her brother, Satrio.

"It was my brother, Satrio, who introduced me to this sport," she said.

She is training with Fadli Potu, who won the gold medal in the men's light division during the LG Cup championship.

Neta says her sports activities will not interfere with her studies at the Ragunan Sports School here.

"Ragunan is a special school for athletes. They understand our activities," the youngest of four siblings said. (ivy)