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)