RI beach volleyball team reshuffled
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Volleyball Association has revamped the national men's beach volleyball team for this season's world series circuit at the expense of two Asian Games medalists.
The association's deputy chief of athletes development, Suharsono, said Thursday that Irilkhun Shofanna and Anjas Asmara had been dropped because of their height disadvantages.
A rookie, I Made Sumaryatna, has been called up to join the team as a reserve.
"We learned from our failure to win the gold in Bangkok that we need taller players," Suharsono said. "Height advantage will help a player to reach the ball better and to form a solid defense."
Both Anjas and Irilkhun stand below 180 centimeters, the new ideal height demanded by the association for beach volleyball players.
Irilkhun teamed up with Agus Salim to win the silver at the Asian Games in Bangkok last December. Anjas and Iwan Sumoyo finished third for the bronze in the same event.
With Irilkhun and Anjas departing, Iwan and Agus will form the nucleus of the national team for international events. They are expected to qualify for the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.
The new tandem will compete in the world series circuit which will start in Russia in June. They must finish at least 24th in the circuit to qualify for the Olympics.
Suharsono said Indonesia would not expect too much on the women's side, particularly because national best hopefuls Engel Bertha Kaize and Siti Nurjanah are taking a long layoff and will not be fit enough to compete on the world circuit.
Engel, better known as Eta, is nursing a knee injury and Siti is raising her baby.
"Those problems will disturb their concentration if they force themselves to train," said Suharsono.
In their absence, the association has called up Risma and will seek a partner for her. Suharsono said he was considering picking a spiker from West Nusa Tenggara to team up with Risma.
Despite growing worries over the quality of its players, Indonesia will take part in the Asian Beach Volleyball Championships in Pattaya and Trang, Thailand, in April, according to Suharsono.
Indoor
A reshuffle has also taken place in the men's indoor team, with seasoned Syamsul Jais and Loudry Maspaitella out and Eddy Hartono and Erwin coming in to give new blood to the squad.
Suharsono said his team, banking mostly on Asian Games veterans, will start an intensive training program next month for the Asian Championships in Teheran early in September. The training stint will take place at the national volleyball center in Sentul, near Bogor, West Java.
"On the basis of our performance in the recent Asiad, we are setting a target of joining the big five at the Teheran outing," Suharsono said. Loudry and company finished sixth in Bangkok.
Suharsono said he was glad that the upcoming Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Brunei Darussalam in August would not feature an indoor volleyball event.
"We can concentrate on our talent-grooming plans for bigger events, especially the Olympics," he said.
Suharsono said that the association had encouraged all its provincial branches to scout for and groom taller young talents. The Yogyakarta branch is the only one to answer the call so far. (yan)