RI women's archery team to tune-up in Slovenia
RI women's archery team to tune-up in Slovenia
JAKARTA (JP): The 25th Target Outdoor Archery Championships of
Europe and the Mediterranean in Kranjskagora, Slovenia, from June
17 to June 23, will serve as the final tune-up for the Indonesian
team prior to the Olympic Games.
Coach Daniel Lumalesil told The Jakarta Post yesterday that
from Slovenia, the women's team will fly directly to Atlanta,
Georgia, to take part in the Olympics, scheduled for July 19 to
Aug. 4.
Indonesia arranged the Slovenian outing in place of the
Atlanta Grand Prix, a test tournament for the Olympics, starting
today, after learning that the country's top female archers --
Nurfitriyana Saiman Lantang, Dahliana and Hamdiah Damanhuri --
are presently at a low ebb.
"They have been worn-out mentally and physically after taking
part in too many tournaments this year," said Daniel.
After winning the bronze medal at the world championships in
August here last year, the three donned the national colors in
the 18th Southeast Asian Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where
they managed only the team gold.
Then in January they had to represent their respective
provinces in a national championship which serves as a qualifying
round for the 14th National Games in September. In February the
three were sent to the Asian Archery Championships in Bangkok,
where all of them crashed out in the quarterfinals.
Daniel said the trio have prepared for the Olympics since
March 1 together with fellow senior archer, Purnama Pandiangan,
and two juniors, Elizabeth Sumampouw and Suhartini. Their
centralized training regime will end in June.
The world archery body FITA lists the Olympics Games
participants by country, not by name. Therefore, even though
Nurfitriyana, Dahliana and Hamdiah have better records than many
others, they won't be sent to Atlanta if they don't show
convincing performances in the near future. Each country is
entitled to only three archers in Atlanta.
The Olympics archery knock-out competition requires 64 female
archers to hit a 70-meter target in 12 series, in each of which
they have to shoot six arrows. (arf)