Pino, Nemo agree to join Olympic team

Pino, Nemo agree to join Olympic team

JAKARTA (JP): The Bahari brothers, Pino and Nemo, have finally
agreed to accept a call from the National Sports Council (KONI)
to don their gloves for Indonesia in the Olympic Games.

A KONI spokesman told reporters yesterday that after hours of
discussion yesterday, council chairman Wismoyo Arismunandar
succeeded in convincing the two brothers not to give up boxing.

Pino and Nemo, two of their father Bahari's four boxing
prodigies, also canceled their plan to resign prior to the 18th
SEA Games last year.

Middleweight Pino and featherweight Nemo are among five
Indonesian boxers who have qualified for the Atlanta Olympics
next July.

Pino earlier said he wanted to resign because he felt he had
come to the end of his career after suffering a series of defeats
in various international tournaments lately.

Nemo earlier also said he wanted to hang up his gloves because
he is no longer interested in boxing.

The two brothers gave no response to the call-up from the
Indonesian Amateur Boxing Association for a centralized training
session here under the tutelage of Cuban coach Isidiro Trotman.

They insist on being trained at home in Bali by their father,
Daniel, who has raised them since they were small.

Chairman of the association Paul Toding threatened to write
them off the list of five boxers bound for Atlanta if they failed
to respond by March 28.

Wismoyo settled the problem by offering a compromise that
suited both conflicting parties, according to spokesman Max
Sopacua.

Pino and Nemo are allowed to continue their own training
program under the tutelage of their father but they must join
team mates La Paene Masara, Hermensen Ballo and Hendrik
Simangunsong here, not in Bali.

Pino and Nemo told Wismoyo they preferred their father to
Trotman, whom the boxing body has hired for two years, because
their father understands them better.

Trotman put too much emphasis on basic techniques. But what
they need is exposure to more advanced techniques, Sopacua quoted
the two brothers as saying.

Pino, Nemo and their father are expected to come to Jakarta in
one or two days to start training at the Army Special Force's
base camp in Cijantung, East Jakarta, for about 20 days.

The five boxers will be sent to Uzbekistan for a one and a
half month stint and then to Cuba for another two-month stint.
(arf)