RI names lifters for world meet
JAKARTA (JP): Lifters from the National men's team who failed to make the trip to Hiroshima's Asian Games last month have been trained to don the national colors at the world weight lifting championships in Ankara next week.
The Indonesian Weight Lifting, Power Lifting and Body Building Association announced yesterday the national squad will comprise of Herry Setiawan and Lukman, national 54kg and 70kg record holders respectively, as well as Erwin Abdullah, bronze medalist in the 59kg division at the world junior weight lifting meet last July.
The Association's vice secretary, Sinatra Kesaes, told reporters yesterday the trio have been undergoing months of rigorous training at their base camp in Bogor, West Java.
"We have not set a target for winning medals in the world championships. There will be great muscle men from China, Eastern Europe and Central Asia coming to the meet," said Sinatra.
The National Sports Governing Body dropped the Association's proposal to include men lifters in the national squad for Asiad. The governing body, instead, picked five women lifters, saying that the muscle women had a greater chance to win medals.
West Javanese Fatmawati gave Indonesia its lone medal in Asiad weight lifting competitions when she took a bronze in the 54kg category.
Chinese lifters swept all nine gold medals in the Asiad women's weight lifting event, but they had to share the pride in the men's division with Kazakhstan and South Korea.
Indonesia has never won a medal in the world championships since the inaugural meet in 1975. Bulgaria took the overall championship title last year in Melbourne, Australia.
The International Weight Lifting Body introduced new weight division in 1993 in an attempt to clean up the sport because the old world records were associated with illegal drug use.
Sinatra said the national championships will be held next month in Bekasi, West Java. Top lifters from Indonesia's 27 provinces are expected to turn up for the annual meet which will serve also as the selection ground for the national weight lifting squad for the 1995 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand. (amd)