Rahardi wants 11 golds from pool

JAKARTA (JP): Chairman of the Indonesian Swimming Association (PRSI) Rahardi Ramelan expressed confidence that Indonesia's swimmers could maintain their supremacy, predicting at least 11 gold medals in the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Brunei Darussalam in August.

Rahardi, also minister of industry and trade, said he had not seen any problems during the middle-term and SEA Games training.

He said during the opening of the three-day national age-group championships on Thursday that Indonesia could collect as many golds as it did in the 19th SEA Games here in 1997. Indonesia finished second after Thailand, who earned 17 gold medals.

Rahardi dismissed comments made on Wednesday by PRSI's technical committee deputy Gerald Item that the association suffered financial losses last year which had affected the training programs.

Gerald also said PRSI would not set a high target in the biennial event, saying that Indonesia's eight key swimmers, who would compete in the Games, could earn two golds from relay events. (ivy)