Oka finishes 4th in Okinawa windsurfing

JAKARTA (JP): National windsurfer Oka Sulaksana was able to muster only fourth place in an international windsurfing competition in Okinawa, Japan, on Saturday.

Oka, the 13th Asian Games gold medalist in the IMCO heavy division in December, narrowly lost out with 33 points after third-ranked Tak Sum Wong of Hong Kong with 32.

Japanese Kenjo Motokazu, the Asiad silver medalist, won first place with 19 and Chinese Yuanguo Zhan was second with 31 in the competition, with 68 windsurfers from seven countries.

Coach Iskandar Sitompul told Antara that Oka did his best to finish fourth since he was the only Indonesian compared to other countries which sent at least 10 windsurfers. Host Japan alone enlisted 20 windsurfers.

Iskandar also blamed Oka's loss on old equipment.

"Oka lost due to outdated equipment. We are still using the 1997-made mistral which was also used in the Southeast Asia Games, while other countries used 1999-produced mistrals which are specially made for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney," he said.

Iskandar called on the Indonesian Yachting and Windsurfing Association (Porlasi) to start its training camp soon to prepare national windsurfers for the Olympics qualifying round. The camp will also drill Oka for the Pre-Olympics in Sydney in September.

"Porlasi and the Indonesian Sports Council should discuss on providing better equipment. If they fail to do so, windsurfing should withdraw from the 2000 Olympics before we came only as a participant," he said.

Oka finished 13th in his Olympic debut in Atlanta, Georgia, three years ago.

The Balinese native, 27, is gearing up for the Asia-Pacific zone qualifying tournament for the World Championship in Guam this month. He needs to compete in all events to land an Olympic berth.

Only 40 windsurfers will qualify for the Olympics. Eligibility will be based on the World Championship in New Caledonia in November, the Pre-Olympics in Sydney in February 2000, plus winners of the Asia Pacific, Australia Oceania, North America, South America and Europe zones. The international windsurfing body will also provide five wild cards, including one for the host country. (ivy)