RI karatekas to spar with Aussies ahead of Asiad

RI karatekas to spar with Aussies ahead of Asiad

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian karate team's members hope to test their skills
during a tour of Australia ahead of the real competition at the
2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, according to the
Indonesian coach.

"In Australia, we will be working out how we use our 'weapons'
to score points and how we can maintain our points when we are in
the lead," coach Willem Mantiri said during the team's farewell
meeting with officials from the National Sports Council (KONI)
here on Thursday.

"We are keen to find out if our karatekas can assemble a
series of attacks with accuracy in the matches," Willem said
further as KONI chairman Wismoyo Arismunandar queried the benefit
of traveling to Australia.

"It's very beneficial for the athletes as the tour can become
the starting point from which we can plan a strategy for Busan,"
team manager Tono Soe'oed said.

Tono said the choice of Australia as the last tryout was based
on the assumption that the continent had prolific, tough
karatekas with a physical build that was the same as those from
Iran and the former Soviet states.

Those countries, according to Tono, are traditionally strong
contenders in Asia.

The Indonesian karate team currently has five hopefuls for the
Busan trip. They are the only female member Jenny Zeanet, M.
Hasan Basri, Sonny Simangasing, Bambang Maulidin and Arif Taufan
Syamsudin. Arif was a gold medalist in Bangkok four years ago.

They will tour Australia for ten days starting Thursday during
which they are to contend with the Australian national team in
Sydney and athletes from a number of clubs.

Arif, whose triumph in the karate competition contributed one
of only six gold medals brought home by the Indonesian contingent
from Bangkok in the 1998 Asian Games, said he was enthusiastic
about the Australian outing.

"We have prepared ourselves better than four years ago. We
have a training regime with tight discipline and high
motivation," he said.

Jenny said she was anxious to evaluate her skills based on her
Australian matches.

Although they seemed coy about the prospect of being rewarded
with big cash payouts, they admitted that the bonuses promised by
KONI would spur them to do their best in Busan.

KONI, which is preparing around 100 athletes for the Busan
trip, has promised Rp 250 million as a cash bonus for an athlete
who wins a gold medal.