RI beach spikers to go to Atlanta

RI beach spikers to go to Atlanta

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia qualified for the men's and women's beach volleyball events in the Atlanta Olympic Games at the final selection tournament in Rio de Janeiro over the weekend.

The women's pair of Ni Putu Timy Yudhani Rahayu and Angel Berta Kaize finished 15th to follow in the footsteps of their male teammates Nurmufid and Markoji, who secured their berth two weeks earlier.

Timmy and Angel scored a 17-15 win over Britain and lost to the United States 2-15 and to Italy 4-15 in Rio de Janeiro, but managed to improve their previous ranking by one place. Only 24 pairs are eligible for the beach volleyball Olympics.

The Indonesian men's team was ranked 22nd in the world after the final selection, also in Rio de Janeiro.

The spikers will undergo an intensive training program in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, starting from March 15. Six more women and six more men have been called up to join the program.

"The national Olympic beach volleyball teams will be decided during the training stint," said Rita Subowo, the new executive chairman of the Indonesian Volleyball Association.

The women's team will be coached by Yano Hadian and the men's by Slamet Mulyanto.

Meanwhile, 10 national lifters will be searching for Olympic berths during an international tournament in Japan next month. They are 54kg lifters Hari Setiawan and Wahyudi, 59kg Taufik and Zulkarnaen, 64kg Erwin Abdullah and Sodikin, 70kg Sutrisno, 76kg Lukman, 99kg Sunaryo and 108kg Machfud. (05)