Olympian leads Jakartan charge in Games pool
JAKARTA (JP): Defending overall champion Jakarta is gunning for swimming pool supremacy in the 14th National Games (PON) next week, buoyed by the presence of Indonesia's Olympian Richard Sam Bera.
Richard, the only Indonesian swimmer to compete in the recent Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, will lead a team of American- based men's swimmers which is likely to capture much of the PON gold mine for the capital.
Parading the country's best male swimmers, the Jakarta squad is upbeat about winning eight gold medals. Suroyo, an official in charge of athletes' development, said that the top honors will come from the 50, 100 and 200 meters freestyle, 100m and 200m butterfly and another three from relay events.
Richard, winner of three golds at the 18th Southeast Asian Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand, last December, arrived yesterday from his base in the United States, along with former national champion swimmer Wisnu Wardhana.
Other swimmers have also completed their preparations abroad. Wirmandi Sugriat, Ratna L. Pradipta and twin brothers Felix and Albert Sutanto, arrived here from stints in Germany last week; Ardianto and Juliana Djuanto came from practicing in Singapore.
Jakarta's swimmers who did not undergo overseas training practiced at home under the tutelage of national coaches Lisa Siregar and Dedeng Kurnia.
Jakarta is not the only province to send athletes abroad. Jambi, East Java, North Sulawesi, Central Java and West Java also send their athletes to various countries such as the United States, China, Australia and Singapore.
In the last PON three years ago, Jakarta topped the medals table with 98 golds, 66 silvers and 60 bronzes, far ahead of West Java which collected 71 golds, 71 silvers and 84 bronzes.
Meanwhile, Central Java track and field coach Yon Daryono expressed guarded optimism that his squad is strong enough to produce a clean sweep.
"We'll make it after seeing our consistent performance in the last two years," Yon told The Jakarta Post yesterday.
Central Java will feature 39 athletes in track and field, but the focus of attention is likely to be on bare-foot women's long- distance runners Rumini Sudragni and Ruwiyati.
Rumini won the 10,000m in the last SEA Games in a record- breaking 35 minutes and 21.34 seconds. Ruwiyati took the SEA Games marathon gold medal, also in a new record.
National women's middle-distance runners Tri Asih Handayani and Ferry Junaedi are also included in Yon's athletic dream team.
Yon said that he expects to win gold in the women's 800m, 1,500m, 3,000m, and the women's and men's 10,000m. He also predicts that the men's quartet of Hermanto, Zan Zuhri, Khadiq Justasi and Eko Pambudi will triumph in 4x100m relay.
Central Java finished fourth with 51 golds, 60 silvers and 62 bronzes in the 13th PON.
Also yesterday Yogyakarta vowed to regain its former dominance in archery. The province's archers will take part in all the 16 events contested.
"We should be able to bag at least two golds, two silvers and two bronzes, just as we did at the 13th Games," coach Sukarto told the Post.
Yogyakarta's women's archer Umi Kalsum, at 60 years old, will be the oldest participant at this year's PON. She will contest the traditional event. (yan)