Perbakin to select team for 2001 SEA Games

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Shooting and Hunting Association (Perbakin) will select the team for the 2001 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games based on athletes' performances at three championships this year.

The Perbakin official in charge of target shooting, Sita Razni, said during a media conference on Tuesday the Anniversary Cup, the Telkom Cup and the Interclub national championships would serve as the selection tournaments.

"We will stick to the National Sports Council (KONI)'s training schedule. As soon as we have selected the best athletes from the three championships, we will start decentralized training programs under the supervision of our provincial chapters.

"After that Perbakin will finance the training before all the athletes join KONI's centralized training program. I think the program will not be as long as in 1997 when we had a one-year program."

Sita said Perbakin would not send athletes to compete in all 15 target shooting events at next year's SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur.

"We'll probably only send athletes to compete in, at the most, seven events. This is based on our chances of winning medals in the Games. In last year's Games in Brunei Darussalam, we only competed in skeet and trap."

Indonesia's Sarmunah won the gold medal in the women's individual double trap. Sarmunah, Titin Indahwati and Rina Dwi Kusumaningtyas brought home the silver medal in the team event, losing out on the gold to arch rival Thailand.

The chairman of the Anniversary Cup organizing committee, Sulistyanto, said Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso, who is also Perbakin chairman, is scheduled to open the annual event, which runs from Aug. 24 to Aug. 28.

So far, only six local chapters of the association have registered to take part in the in the event, but Sulistyanto said 12 chapters -- Aceh, North Sumatra, Riau, South Sumatra, Lampung, Jambi, Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, East Java and Bali -- would compete in the event.

"The best national shooters are scattered in the 12 provinces and I believe they all want to create new national records and join the SEA Games squad," he said. (yan)