SEA Games athletes eye overall title
JAKARTA (JP): The country's athletes are determined to reclaim the overall medal honors at the 19th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games this October, the title they lost to Thailand two years ago.
They announced their respective targets yesterday during a gathering with the public at the Grand Hyatt, Central Jakarta.
About 30 athletes from badminton, bodybuilding, boxing, shooting, track and field, pencak silat and karate shared a light moment with fans away from their usual rigorous SEA Games preparations.
Leading men's doubles shuttler Ricky Subagja attended the meeting without his partner Rexy Mainaky.
Ricky said the badminton players were involved in intensive training and ready to sweep all the titles.
"We have been told to keep on training not only for the SEA Games, but also other important international events such as the Asian Games and world badminton championships," he said.
Badminton participants are limited to 14 players for each country, as stipulated by the SEA Games Executive Committee.
Badminton coach Atik Djauhari has said Indonesia's best chances for gold medals were in the men's and women's singles, the women's doubles and mixed doubles.
Ade Rai
Top bodybuilder Ade Rai was another athlete besieged by fans at the gathering.
He vowed to do his best in the SEA Games.
"I hope I can get as many golds as possible from the eight events at the SEA Games," he said.
The Indonesian Weightlifting, Powerlifting and Bodybuilding Association is now grooming its 30 lifters in Bogor, West Java, and Lampung.
There are 1,017 Indonesian athletes undergoing training for the event.
In boxing, Indonesia hopes to win at least four of the 11 golds on offer through its 12 boxers in the team.
Among the boxers are La Paene Masara (light flyweight 48kgs), the President Cup's best fighter Hermansen Ballo (flyweight 51kgs) and Rico Maspaitella (featherweight 57kgs) and Bara Gommies (welterweight 67kgs).
The boxers were selected based on performance during the national training program and the President Cup tournament in Bogor last month.
The boxers' task is heavier as they must try to eradicate memories of the disastrous showing at the 1995 Games in Thailand, in which they did not win any golds.
Indonesia should also be circumspect following the performance of its sharpshooters at the recent Bhayangkara Cup shooting championship at the Senayan Shooting Range.
Their scores were far below national and SEA Games records.
The conviction to go all-out for gold was also voiced by representatives from the Indonesian Association of Judo.
"Indonesia will snatch as many gold medals as possible from judo at the SEA Games," association chairman Hendropriyono said in Jambi on Friday.
Twenty-six judokas are undergoing a strict selection on a centralized training center in Ciloto, West Java.
The judokas still have to compete in several trial competitions before representing the country in the SEA Games.
In an effort to improve performance of athletes and coaches, the National Sport Council also organized a two-day seminar on Sport Psychology and Stress Management skills which closed yesterday.
The seminar was held in cooperation with the Tarumanegara University and North Carolina University in the U.S.
Daniel Gould, one of the speakers, said stress management skills were important for athletes to prepare themselves mentally for their competitions.
"In boxing, for instance, a boxer will perform badly if he fails to control his emotion after a psychological war with his rival in the ring." (03)