Nurfitriyana has trouble focusing
Nurfitriyana has trouble focusing
CHIANG MAI, Thailand (AFP): Nurfitriyana Lantang has trouble focusing as she ponders Indonesia's first Olympic gold in archery. Inferior opposition -- at least on paper -- stand in the way of the Southeast Asian Games women's team title.
The sole survivor of the Seoul Olympics silver medal-winning Indonesians, Nurfitriyana leads her defending champion team against the Thais in today's women's semifinals with their confidence shot to pieces after losing the individual gold on Wednesday.
"We've been practicing very hard, but the mental training is very difficult," the 33-year-old Jakarta bank clerk said.
The Indonesian women archers are one of the few athletes at these 10-nation biennial games with true Olympic pedigree.
They were third in the 1995 world championships on home soil, the best among southeast Asian teams, though Nurfitriyana did not fare very well individually.
Typically, she was eliminated early in these games' individual event, won by Joann Tabanag of the Philippines, who said Wednesday's result should warn the Indonesians against over- confidence.
"The crowd will be cheering for the other teams, because they are tired of seeing the Indonesians on top," Tabang added. Nurfitriyana hopes a SEA games gold will prime her team for a similar result in next year's Atlanta Olympics.
If they go on to enter the final they might well meet the team of Tabanag, which includes two over-achieving high school students aged 15 and 16. They face Malaysia in the other semifinal.
Pingpong diplomacy
Former Chinese national table tennis player Jing Jun Hong has won her first match at the Games -- that of eligibility.
Singapore manager Terry Tan said the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has allowed Jing, now Singapore's top player, to compete in the women's singles and doubles, but not in the team events.
"She is certainly going for gold and is feeling quite good. She knows she is the favorite," Tan told the official Chiang Mai games paper Sawasdee.
Jing, who married a Singaporean and changed her nationality, was following the footsteps of another top Chinese woman table tennis star who won a Japanese passport and a gold in the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games.
China had objected to Jing's appearance in the last world championships, citing a rule that athletes in her situation cannot play at that level for six years after adopting a new passport.
"I went right to the top of our sport, the ITTF, which issues the world rules," Tan said.
"They told me quite definitely that the ban on Jing applies at world championship and international open levels only. The SEA games fits neither classification."
Tan added: "We feel that she should be allowed to continue her sport and help lift everyone's standards."