RI jumpers eye 4-way rotation

RI jumpers eye 4-way rotation

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian skydivers are hoping do well in the
four-way rotation event at the upcoming Sixth World Canopy
Formation Championships at Lido Lake Resort in Bogor, West Java.

"Based on our results in the Malaysia Open last month, I think
we have a good chance in four-way rotation," Lt. Col. Ariyanto
Saleh, the team coordinator, said yesterday.

Indonesia's team is made up of the Army Special Force members
who won the discipline at the Malaysian Open. They earned 13
points.

Ariyanto said that Indonesians have yet to master the other
two events, four-way sequential and eight-way speed formation, to
be contested in the June 14 to June 24 championships. Although
the team has undergone a stint in the United States, it cannot
match its more experienced rivals.

"We do not expect to win, but simply to participate in the
last two categories," Ariyanto said.

French parachutists set the four-way rotation world record in
the 1994 World Championships in Australia with 21 points.

"France is likely to win again here because its jumpers
managed to produce 23 points at today's rehearsal," said Ahmed
Solihin, program coordinator of the championships.

Indonesia has groomed 20 parachutists, made up of members of
the Army's and the Air Force's Special Forces, and civilians from
Aves club in Bandung, West Java.

The Aves Club will represent Indonesia in the four-way
sequential event, while the military team will compete in the
eight-way speed formation class.

Heavy rain drenched Bogor and its surrounds as participants
from 11 countries rehearsed at Lido Lake yesterday.

If Thailand and South Korea confirm their participation, the
number of countries will swell to 20, two more than the last meet
in Australia.

The organizers will provide three Pilatus Porter aircraft for
the championships.

Chairman of the committee, Vice Marshall Purnomo Sidhi,
announced yesterday that organizers dropped a plan to have
skydivers perform a massive free-fall at the Indonesia Air Show.
Purnomo said the busy ceremonial program at the show would not
allow enough time for the parachutists. The air show will run
from June 22 to July 10 at the Soekarno-Hatta International
Airport.

Instead, Purnomo called on the skydivers to take part in a
bogey jump above the Prambanan and Borobudur temples in Central
Java shortly after the competition.

As of yesterday, only 22 parachutists have registered to join
the jump. The organizers will provide two Hercules transport
planes to fly the jumpers to the drop zone. (yan)