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)