RI beach volleyball team reshuffled

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)