RI targets five shooting golds

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia has targeted winning only five of 42 gold medals for shooting at the 19th SEA Games next month.

"Two golds are expected to come from the double trap and three for running target events. We believe it is the maximum Indonesia could make," Anthony Sunarya, secretary-general of the Indonesian Shooting Association said over the weekend.

Anthony said the other events will probably go to the Thailand shooters.

"The double trap will come from the women, while the running target from both men and women," Anthony said, reported Antara.

Anthony said that Indonesian shooters could not compete with the other countries because most national shooters are seniors and there is difficulty in finding young shooters.

"We are still relying on our senior shooters, like Sylvia Gani. It's difficult to find young shooters for the coming Jakarta SEA Games," Anthony said.

The association held recently a training session at Cilodong, West Java, for Armed Forces members. But of the 600 participants, only six were potential shooters.

"We actually need 95 talented shooters," Anthony said.

Anthony said that the Vietnam female shooters could be a threat to Indonesia.

"The Vietnam female shooters are good and could beat Indonesia particularly in the running target event," Anthony said.

The association is planning to hold a national congress from Oct. 30 to Nov. 1. The meeting will include the appointment of the association's executives for the term 1997 to 2001.

The association's present chairman is Eddy Sudradjat, who has been at the helm for the past eight years.

Soerjono, of the Indonesian Fencing Association, said that Indonesia could grab six golds in the fencing events at the SEA Games.

"Our optimism is based on reports that our fencers have shown tremendous progress during training in Rumania and Hungary. They were all happy during the training stints in the two countries," Kompas quoted Soerjono.

The association sent recently 20 male fencers and female fencers to undergo a series of training stints in Rumania and Hungary. The fencers also took part in the Student Games in Sicily, but lost 0-5 in the preliminary round.

Asked if Indonesia could take nine of the 10 golds in fencing, as was achieved in the 1989 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, Soerjono said it was impossible because many of the other participating countries have good fencers.

"The Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand have good fencers. They train their fencers overseas," Soerjono said.

On Friday, Soerjono welcomed the returning fencers at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

Soerjono said that in the remaining two weeks before the SEA Games, the fencers will continue training, especially improving their techniques.

The SEA Games fencing events comprise saber (men), epee (men and women), and foil (men and women).

Nugraha Besoes, secretary of the Indonesian Football Association, said on Friday that the SEA Games soccer team has arrived safely in Medan.

"The team flew to Medan on a Merpati flight instead of Garuda and arrived in Medan at 10:40 a.m. They are all in good condition," Nugraha said, referring to Friday's Garuda plane crash that killed 234 people.

The soccer team is in Medan for a trial match with a team competing in the Indonesia League tournaments.

The Garuda Indonesia Airbus-300-B4 crashed shortly before landing in Medan. The wreckage was found by search and rescue workers in a 500-meter-deep ravine in the Barisan Range, about 30 kilometers from Medan.

Following the plane crash report, Nugraha had received a number of telephone calls inquiring whether the national soccer team was on the Garuda plane. (lnt)