Nurhayti expected to grab five golds in cycling

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's most promising woman cyclist, Nurhayati, is expected to grab five gold medals at the 19th SEA Games in October, an official said.

Sofian Ruzian, the national cycling team manager, said on Tuesday that the five golds would most likely come from track and road races.

"Nurhayati told us that she will certainly take part in the five cycling events," Sofian said. "We only hope she can capture the gold medals."

Nurhayati, from Yogyakarta, will compete in the 20-kilometer individual team trial (ITT), sprint, 3,000-meter individual pursuit (IP) and 70-kilometer individual road race (IRR).

It has been reported that Nurhayati may quit cycling after the SEA Games.

According to Sofian, Nurhayati has no rival in Southeast Asia.

"So, we believe she will do her best in the five events."

In the 20km ITT, Nurhayati will compete against Chalem Chompusri, the gold medalist from Thailand at the 1995 SEA Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

At the Chiang Mai Games, Nurhayati was defeated by Chalem for the first time. Nurhayati and an official were suspicious that her time was fiddled with to prevent her from winning the event, Antara reported on Tuesday.

For the 20km ITT, Nurhayati will be partnered with Tuti Suhesti while Chalem will be supported by Banna Champou and Prane Soraton.

Thailand will also be represented by their best women cyclists Sirinya Nantrapon and Tilipawan Jantorn. Both Sirinya and Tilipawan will be tough rivals for Nurhayati and Selly Guntari.

Banna and Sirinya will race in the 3000m IR and 30km point race while Chalem will not only race for the 20km ITT but also the 70km IRR.

"The biggest challenge for our women cyclists will come from Thailand," Sofian said. "I am optimistic that Nurhayati and her teammates will do their best."

Race team

The Indonesian women's track and road race team are:

20km ITT: Nurhayati, Tuti Suhesti and Nuraeni.

Sprint: Nurhayati, Cecilia and Selly Guntari.

3000m IP: Nurhayati, Selly Guntari and Tuti Suhesti.

Point race: Nurhayati, Nuraeni and Selly Guntari.

70km IRR: Nurhayati, Nuraeni, Selly Guntari and Sudatin.

The Indonesian Swimming Association is still waiting for the arrival of 10 swimmers who have not returned home from training overseas.

Kristiono Sumano, the association's deputy secretary-general said on Tuesday that the National Sports Council had called on the swimmers to return in September at the latest.

"We expect that the swimmers will return on Thursday after finishing their training stints abroad," Kristiono said. "The swimmers will join the other 12 swimmers for further practice prior to the SEA Games."

The association has already sent a letter to the swimmers, Kristiono said.

"But their coach wanted the swimmers to finish their training programs first before returning home," Kristiono added.

The 10 swimmers are Richard Sam Bera, Wishnu Wardana, Felix Sutanto, Albert Sutanto, Denny Kurniawan, Audi Oktavian, Elsa Manora Nasution and Olga Halim (all are training in the United States), Catherine Surya in Australia and Metri W. Pangestika in Germany.

In the swimming events at the Games, Kristiono said that Indonesians will enter all 32 events.

"Observing from the swimmers' performance, only Richard and Catherine are expected to grab gold medals." (lnt)