RI archers expect clean sweep at Chiang Mai

RI archers expect clean sweep at Chiang Mai

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Archery Association is ready for
a clean sweep of the four gold medals up for grabs in the archery
competition at the 18th Southeast Asian Games in Chiang Mai,
Thailand, from Dec. 9 to Dec. 17.

"For us, the SEA Games are just a stopover. Our ultimate
destination is the Olympic Games (in Atlanta next year) because
our athletes are world-class," says the association's secretary-
general, Edo Rahantoknam.

The performance of Indonesia's archers, particularly its women
archers, has been impressive. In the 38th World Archery
Championships in Jakarta last August, the Indonesian trio of
Nurfitriana Lantang, Hamdiah and Dahliana Damanhuri won the
bronze medal in the women's team Olympic Round event after
beating the strong German team.

In last year's Asian Games in Hiroshima, another trio of
Rusena Gelanteh, Dahliana and Purnama Pandiangan, won the silver
medal, in the same event, after beating world champion South
Korea.

Thus, according to Rahantoknam, at Southeast Asian level no
other country will be able to match Indonesia in archery.

Dahliana, Nurfitriana and Hamdiah will be fielded in the
upcoming SEA Games, along with budding archer Elizabeth.

In the men's division, eight archers have been chosen to go to
Chiang Mai. They are Syafruddin Mawi and Hendra Setijawan from
East Java and two junior athletes from Jakarta, Wahyu Hidayat and
Ditto Rembran.

Meanwhile, chairman of the Indonesian Boxing Association, Paul
Toding, told The Jakarta Post that Indonesian boxers should be
able to beat their host rivals on knock-outs or on referee stop
contests at the SEA Games.

"If our boxers could only win on points, I'm afraid host
Thailand would engineer the calculation of the points for the
benefit of its own boxers," Toding added. (arf)