RI karate squad issued visas to Japan

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)