RI wrestling body to groom squad of 40 for SEA Games
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Wrestling Association has named 40 athletes to attend its initial national training program for the 19th SEA Games here next year.
TH Butar-butar, project officer of the wrestling body, said after a consultative meeting with the National Sports Council that all the recruits, who were top performers in the recent National Games, will undergo an intensive program for 11 months.
"Hopefully the training session will start early in December," said Butar-butar.
At the end of the program, the association will cut the number of wrestlers to 20 for the Games.
Wrestling has been absent from the biennial event since 1987. It will offer 20 gold medals; 10 in freestyle and 10 in Greco- Roman classes.
Indonesia made a clean sweep in the 1987 Games here, winning all the 20 golds at stake.
"It will be a very daunting task to repeat that clean sweep next year, due to strong opposition from Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam," he said.
The association plans to hire two Russian coaches and to send the wrestlers on an overseas stint in Russia to achieve their goal, Antara reported.
Indonesia's wrestlers will warm up in the Asia Oceania Cup in Thailand next June before competing in the SEA Games. But Butar- butar said that a lack of funds might force the outing to be canceled.
Judo
Meanwhile, the Indonesian Judo Association picked 18 male and 17 female judokas in 14 weight divisions to be groomed at the association's biggest dojo in Ciloto, West Java, for six months prior to next year's Games.
The 35 judokas were gold and silver medalists at the last National Games.
South Korean coach Kim Sung-ill will run the centralized training session starting in March.
Indonesia has set its sights on winning seven golds. The target is down from the nine of 13 golds taken by the Indonesians in the last Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in December. The success then was mainly due to the work of Japanese coach Satosi Takeda.
Kresna Bayu and Aprilia Marzuki will again be Indonesia's trump cards next year.
Diving
Also yesterday, the Indonesian Swimming Association's diving section official, Harly Ramayani, said that the country's best women's diver, Dwi Mariastuti, has yet to respond to a call to join the national training program.
"As of today we haven't received any confirmation from her," Harly said.
Harly said that Dwi had indicated her refusal to don the national colors in the SEA Games shortly after enjoying gold medals galore in the recent National Games.
"Dwi said she has been in the national SEA Games team for a long time," Harly said.
Dwi has been the country's backbone in the Games since 1983, triumphing either in the platform or springboard events. She came home for the first time without golds after the Chiang Mai Games.
Temmy Kusuma won Indonesia's sole diving gold at the last SEA Games. (yan)