Persani names gymnasts for Romania outing
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian Gymnastics Association (Persani) identified on Wednesday the 10 gymnasts who will travel to Romania for a two- year training program meant to prepare them for the next Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.
The Indonesian gymnasts include M. Tri Saputra, 13, of Riau, Melyusi Adeputra, 17, of Lampung, Pramu Nur Imam, 18, of East Java, and Endriadi, 21, of Jakarta, in the men's artistic category; Dewi Prahara, 19, of Riau, Nefi Nurbaeti, 11, of Jakarta, and Riri Wulandari, 16, of West Sumatra, in the women's artistic category; Windi Yofilia, 15, of Jambi, Cici Mitasari, 18, of Jakarta, and Natalia, 17, of Jakarta, in the women's rhythmic category.
The gymnasts will depart later this month, accompanied by coaches Djefri Mutik Butarbutar, Biasworo Adi Suyanto, Yochi Rusandi and Yulia Ros.
"With the training camp in Romania, we expect the gymnasts to double their gold medal collection at the 2005 SEA Games," Persani secretary-general Asep Sulaeman said on Wednesday.
The next SEA Games, a biennial multievent sporting showcase featuring the 11 Southeast Asian nations, will be hosted by the Philippines. The Indonesian gymnastics squad brought home two golds at the last SEA Games in Vietnam.
Gymnastics is not included in the Indonesian Awakens (IA) program, which was set up to increase the country's medal haul at the 2006 Asian Games in Qatar.
"For the 2006 Asian Games, it is still hard to compete against more experienced countries like China and Japan. We will be content with bronzes," Asep said.
At the last Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, in 2002, Jonathan Sianturi was the only Indonesian gymnast in competition and ended up in fifth place.
Its two-gold haul at the last SEA Games demonstrated how far behind Indonesian gymnasts had fallen behind their regional rivals from Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand, all of which took home more golds.
Asep said Romania had been chosen for the training program because of its status as one of the world's top countries in gymnastics.
He said traveling to Romania for the program made more sense than bringing in Romanian coaches to Indonesia.
"Our athletes will have the chance to watch, learn and practice with world-class gymnasts from Romania," he said.
Coach Djefri said he had already prepared practice sessions and modules for the 10 gymnasts.
"We will discuss our plans with the coaches in Romania to determine the final training modules," he said.
"Besides the training in Romania, we also plan to send several of the gymnasts to the Junior Asian Championship in Qatar in February. We also plan to send some to participate in an international senior competition in Germany next March, and a competition in Romania in April," Djefri said.