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)