Pino needs 30-day rest to heal spinal injury

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's ace middleweight boxer Pino Bahari needs to take a full month's rest to heal a spinal injury if he is to run his bid for the Atlanta Olympic Games this July.

"According to orthopedic Doctor Chaehab, Pino needs to rest for a month to fully recover from his injury," Daniel Bahari, Pino's coach and father, announced yesterday.

Pino, a gold medalist in the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing, was diagnosed as suffering from a spinal injury in a fitness test at the National Sports Council laboratory on April 10.

Pino, who is staying at the Century Park Hotel, said the doctor gave him Chinese medicine made of turtle extract to cure his injury. The doctor also gave him a back brace to wear.

"The doctor ordered me to keep wearing the brace. He won't allow me to sit up and jump," said the 23-year-old boxer.

Pino, his featherweight boxer brother Nemo Bahari, light flyweight boxer La Paene Masara, flyweight boxer Hermensen Ballo and light middleweight boxer Hendrik Simangunsong secured Olympic berths during qualifying tournaments early this year.

The national Olympic boxing team will undergo the second fitness test today without Pino.

Subardi Soear, project officer of the national training program, announced yesterday that the decision about Pino will be up to the sports council's chairman Wismoyo Arismunandar.

"The results of Thursday's test will be one of the criteria to decide whether Pino will go to Atlanta or not. But the chairman will decide," Subardi said.

The Indonesian Amateur Boxing Association is scheduled to hand out a official report on the results of the tests to Wismoyo next Tuesday.

Didit Soedijoto, secretary-general of the boxing body, told The Jakarta Post that Pino's future will be decided during a meeting after the second test today.

"We will consider the boxers' physical fitness and previous fighting records," he said.

All boxers except Pino are undergoing a training stint at the Army's special force base camp in Cijantung, East Jakarta.

The Olympic-bound boxers are slated to fly to Cuba on May 19 for two international warm-up tournaments there. They will take part in the Cordoba-Cardin tournament in Camaquey from May 28 to June 6 and the Pedro Soto Alba tournament in Holkuin from June 5 to June 12.

Pino and Nemo joined the national training session only after Wismoyo persuaded them to do so. They had refused to undergo a stint under the tutelage of Cuban coach Isidoro Trotman. (yan)