Neta to accompany Juana in Olympic warm-up tour

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)