RI archers may make Olympics
RI archers may make Olympics
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Archery Association is optimistic that its athletes, particularly its strong women archers, will qualify for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, through the upcoming 38th world archery championships in Jakarta.
"Given that most of our athletes have been progressing, in terms of scoring and physical fitness during the training sessions, it would not be difficult for them to qualify for the Olympics," head coach Daniel Lumalesil said. But he quickly added that it would be very hard for the Indonesian team to win any medals at the games.
Indonesia has been grooming 10 male and 10 female archers since Jan. 25, at a centralized intensive training center in Jakarta. They are being prepared for both the Dec. 9-17 Southeast Asian Games in Thailand and the Aug. 1-6 world championships in Jakarta's Senayan, and ABC, archery fields.
They will have a try-out at the French Open in Lyon, slated for May 11-15.
The 10 female archers include Lilies Handayani, Purnama Pandiangan and Nurfitriana Lantang, a trio which gave Indonesia a silver medal at the Seoul Olympics in Sept. 1988, Rusena Gelanteh, Dahliana, Chaerani, Hamdiah and Kusumawardani.
The 10 men archers, include Hendra Setiawan, Wilson Pane and Gatot Ariyanto, a trio which won gold in the men's team at the 1993 Southeast Asian Games in Singapore.
To be eligible for entry to the Olympics, a female archer must be able to score at least 1,300 points after shooting 36 arrows at the distances of 90m, 70m, 50m and 30m each. So far, Gelanteh has reached a score of 1,302 points during training.
The coach added that out of the 10 women archers, he would pick six to compete at the upcoming world meet. At the Southeast Asian Games in Chiang Mai, Lumalesil said, he is optimistic that Indonesia will make a clean sweep in all four events, the men's and women's individual and men's and women's teams.
However, he predicted that, at the Chiang Mai Games, Joan Chan of the Philippines will pose a threat to Nurfitriana Lantang, who won the individual women's gold at the 1993 SEA Games. (arf)