RI riders gear up for 2001 SEA Games
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Equestrian and Horse Racing Association (Pordasi) will select its team members for the Kuala Lumpur 2001 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games through a championship series.
The first championship, which was organized by the Equestrian Committee of Indonesia (ECI), started on Friday and went until Sunday at Arthayasa Stables in Sawangan, West Java.
The second in the series, the Bandung Equestrian Club Open, is slated to take place from June 15 to June 17 at the equestrian club in Bandung. The third championship is scheduled for July 6 to July 8 in Parompong, Lembang in West Java.
Chairman of the committee Johan Pitoy said the series was used to get a better evaluation of the riders. The committee is under the supervision of Pordasi.
"This way we will have a more accurate evaluation of each rider. However, the results are not the only thing we need to name the members of the team," he told The Jakarta Post and Bola sports tabloid on the sidelines of the championships in Sawangan on Sunday.
"We must also consider the riders' discipline and obedience to their coaches. This is also important. Currently, there are 22 riders being prepared for the SEA Games and they will be selected for a team of 14 riders."
"Pordasi aims to grab the gold medals from dressage and three- day events. The competition is very tight as most of the participating countries have similar strong points," he added.
In Friday's dressage team qualification, top model Larasati Gading topped the event with 688 points riding her own Nikolaus. Nico Pelealu came in second with 659 points, riding Janti Husodo's Loretto.
Aditha Indra was third riding Putu Sidartha's Serwis with 656 points. Roy Ibrahim was fourth riding Ronny Lukito's Grannon and collecting 630 points and Rahmat Abdul Natsir was fifth riding Pati Marcus' Emanze with 523 points.
"I believe Indonesia can have good results in the SEA Games and Asian Games as well, especially since Pordasi hired foreign coaches to refine our technique," said Larasati.
Aditha topped the dressage individual qualification on Saturday, collecting 710 points followed by Larasati with 706 points. Finishing third was Nico with 671 points.
Endaryanto Bambang topped the SEA Games show-jumping qualification on Sunday. Riding Putri Wulandari's Gallipoly, Endaryanto booked a total time of 58.75 seconds with total faults of four points after two rounds of jumps. He made a clear round in the second round to the crowd's cheers.
The owner of Arthayasa Stables, Rafiq Radinal, was second also with a clear second round. Riding his own Isabele, Rafiq finished the event with 60.42 seconds and 12 points in penalty.
Ardi Hapsoro Hamidjojo was third riding Ray Hamidjojo's Priscilla Arimbi with 62.61 seconds and a penalty of 12 points.
Endaryanto, who is currently working as an equestrian coach in Brunei Darussalam, said he did not expect to win and was just doing his best.
"If I had targeted on winning, I might have ended up losing. I was just doing my best. I'll also do my best to secure a place on the team for the SEA Games," he said.
The Indonesian show-jumping team will participate in the World Cup slated to take place in July in Malaysia. (nvn)