RI women spikers train in China

RI women spikers train in China

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia sent a 12-strong national female
volleyball team to China yesterday for a one-month training
stint, as part of its preparations for the upcoming Southeast
Asian Games.

"The stint is not meant to take on our Chinese counterparts.
We will just train with them," head coach Putut Marhaento told
reporters yesterday. He added that the National Sports Council
(KONI) has given Rp 20 million to help finance the stint.

The 18th SEA Games will be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, from
Dec. 9 to Dec. 17.

Female volleyball players, who have been chosen for the China
stint, include Nenden Hernawati of West Java, Nyovi Sanita of
Jakarta and Sri Utami of Central Java.

The national male volleyball team will hold some domestic
tryouts in Bandung, Surabaya and Yogyakarta, following its
participation at the recently concluded World Student Games in
Fukuoka, Japan.

The male team's chances of obtaining gold medals are certainly
not high, Putut said, especially after its three ace players,
Chandra Halim, Iman Agus Faisal and Pascal Wilmar, withdrew due
to job-related reasons.

Thailand and the Philippines will be the biggest hurdles for
the Indonesian teams, Putut predicted.

No target

The Indonesian Weight Lifting and Body Building Association
announced yesterday it will go to Chiang Mai without a target.

"We have not fix a target, although the National Sports
Council has asked us to grab as many medals as we can," the
association's chairman, Soesilo Soedarman, said after inducting
the new officials of the association's Jakarta chapter yesterday.

At the last SEA Games in Singapore two years ago, Indonesia
scooped eight gold medals for weight lifting. So for the upcoming
SEA Games, Soesilo expressed hope that the success can at least
be repeated.

A tryout in Pusan, South Korea, was completed last June as
part of the association's preparations for the SEA Games, he
added. (arf)