RI karate squad issued visas to Japan
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Southeast Asian (SEA) Games karate squad was issued the required visas on Tuesday to enter Japan. The visas had been delayed after the squad failed to submit all of the required documents.
The Indonesian Karate-Do Federation (FORKI) plans to send 11 men's karatekas and eight women karatekas to Japan for warmup programs.
The women's karatekas will compete in the Ladies Cup open tournament starting on July 14 in Tokyo, while the men's karatekas will train at several karate schools in the city.
"FORKI has received confirmation from the Japanese Embassy that all of the visas will be issued on Wednesday morning, enabling us to leave for Japan in the afternoon," team manager Tono Soe'oed said.
"We have examined all the required documents and found that indeed we did not provide proper documents for several athletes, which lead to their applications being rejected," he added.
Tono said the delay was likely the result of a miscommunication about the required documents.
"We were trying to submit all the required documents but perhaps we were obstructed by a miscommunication between the embassy's staff and our staff," he said.
"I think it was a good lesson for us that we should be more careful and thorough when applying for visas."
FORKI official in charge of athletes development Ahmad Budu said that the Japanese Embassy fully helped the squad after they met all the requirements.
Separately, the National Sports Council (KONI) hired two more Cuban coaches to train Indonesian athletes for the SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur from Sept. 8 to Sept. 17.
KONI hired Rafael Figueroa Alcolea to work with gymnasts from the Indonesian Gymnastics Association (Persani), while Juan Felipe Ortiz Capote will coach Indonesian Amateur Athletics Association (PASI) athletes in the jumping events.
The sports council previously hired Cuban coach Carlos Jesus Penate Torres to work with the country's boxers.
"I have seen several long jumpers and believe that they have the potential to jump some eight meters. They only need to improve on some techniques like their arm swing," Capote said after a contract-signing ceremony.
Alcolea told The Jakarta Post that Indonesia had good gymnasts in the pommel horse and bars events.
"But I don't think we can do much to achieve good results at the SEA Games. However, I'm sure the gymnasts will improve greatly in the long term," he said.
The coaches signed one-year contracts with evaluations every three months. They will be paid US$1,500 a month.
Present at the ceremony were KONI chairman Wismoyo Arismunandar and Cuban Ambassador to Indonesia Carlos Castillo.
Wismoyo said the hirings reflected the good relationship between the Indonesian and Cuban people, and hoped both coaches would do their best to help Indonesian athletes achieve greater results.
"Since both coaches have been trained in coaching methodology, I hope we can have discussions about how to improve the quality of Indonesia's coaches," he said.
Castillo said he expected such sports cooperation would be expanded in the future with more exchange programs.
"Indonesian boxers are now training in Cuba and I hope we can have more exchanges, especially since Cuba has world-class sports achievements," he said.
Cuba finished ninth with 11 gold medals, 11 silver medals and seven bronze medals at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. (nvn)