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."