Nurhayati expected to win SEA Games cycling gold
Nurhayati expected to win SEA Games cycling gold
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia is placing its gold medal hopes in the
18th Southeast Asian Games cycling competitions on top national
female rider Nurhayati, who had an impressive showing at the
world championships in Manila over the weekend.
Nurhayati brought home a silver and a bronze in Manila, adding
to the Indonesian team's medal collection, which is now a silver
and two bronzes.
The cyclist finished second behind a Chinese rider in the 40km
point race. She also came in third in the 500m individual time
trial after two Japanese cyclists.
"These results imply that we're the strongest among the other
Southeast Asian countries in those two events," Husein
Argasasmita, secretary general of the Indonesian Cycling
Association (ISI), said on Saturday.
However, the Dec. 9-17 SEA Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand, will
not feature the two events. The cycling events for women to be
contested at the Games are the 3,000m individual pursuit, 25km
individual time trial, 50km team time trial and 70km individual
open road race.
Host Thailand has canceled the 70km team open road race, at
which the Indonesian women's team has so far done commendably.
"So, we hope that Nurhayati will earn some gold medals in the
individual events only," he told The Jakarta Post. In the last
SEA Games in Singapore two years ago, Nurhayati triumphed in the
60km individual road race to give Indonesia its only cycling
gold.
In addition to Nurhayati, Indonesia fielded its male team of
Herry Janto Setiawan, Andry Sudrajat and Nurrochman at the Manila
world championships. Nurrochman won the bronze medal in the men's
keirin.
But the keirin event, in which a motorbike is used to
accelerate the bicycle's speed during the first five rounds, will
also be absent from the upcoming SEA Games.
The men's cycling events at the Games are the 1,000m sprint,
1,000 individual time trial, 4,000m individual pursuit, 4,000m
team pursuit, 50km individual time trial road race, 100km team
time trial and the 173km individual open road race.
"We hope Nurrochman, Andri and Herry will medal in the sprint
events. I believe their toughest opponent will be Malaysia's
Roosman Alwi," Husein said.
Husein expressed his guarded optimism when asked if Herry
could win in the 1,000m individual time trial. Herry's latest
record in that event was a third-place finish in the Asian
Cycling Championship in Ipoh, Malaysia, two years ago.
The world championships in Manila will be concluded on
Wednesday. The Indonesian team, which took part only in the
tracks events, went home on Saturday. (arf)