Pertina cautious about SEA Games prospects

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

While the majority of national boxing hopefuls have been training for the upcoming Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, the Indonesian Amateur Boxing Association (Pertina) seems to be cautious about their medal prospects in Vietnam, who will be hosting the SEA Games.

Boxing is one of the 26 sports Indonesia tentatively plans to compete in at the biennial sporting event this December.

Although the national training camp for all 26 sports is to open officially next month, Pertina jumped the gun and has been training since February, with 16 out of a planned 19 boxers attending workouts.

Nine boxers will be selected in the end to compete in each of nine divisions. Pertina has not yet assessed the strength of its boxers ahead of the games.

"We can't say right now in which divisions we may have a greater chance of winning a gold. Let's see how the kids hit during the training. We may wait until halfway through the training, then we'll see where we can pin our hopes," Bambang Asmanu, secretary-general of Pertina, told The Jakarta Post here on Wednesday.

Bambang singled out Thailand, along with host country Vietnam, as hot contenders. At the last SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur in 2001, Thailand won seven golds, while Indonesia brought home only two.

Three boxers have yet to join the training: Anthonius Johny (54-kilogram division) of South Kalimantan, and John Priadi (45 kg) and Maskur (57 kg), both from Central Kalimantan.

"Anthonius has just sat an exam for his job application at his local administration, and will arrive here tomorrow (Thursday)," Bambang said.

He added that John and Maskur may not make the trainee list in the immediate future, as both were preparing for their final exams at university.

"We expect them to be here in June. However, they are training individually under the guidance of two coaches," Bambang said.

Of the 19 planned boxers, Hermensen Ballo has been provided training in his native town of Kupang in East Nusa Tenggara.

Meanwhile, Djoko Pramono, the national training head, confirmed that the first three-month phase of the training camp would commence officially on May 1.

It will be followed by a four-month phase, to be carried out by the National Sports Council (KONI).