Shenny needs to reach best 5 in Asian C'ships

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian women's diver Shenny Ratna Amelia is expected to reach the best five at the Asian Swimming Championships in Pusan, South Korea, late March as a warm-up for the Olympic Games in September.

Coach Harly Ramayani said during training at the Senayan swimming pool Friday that if Shenny failed to reach the best five, the Indonesian Swimming Federation (PRSI) threatened not to send her to the Olympics.

"That's the requirement from PRSI. The federation also will reconsider sending Shenny for six-weeks training in China should she fail in the championships," she said.

Harly has plans to send Shenny to Beijing under supervision of Chinese diving head coach Zhung Shao Zhun.

"Should Shenny manage to reach the best five in the championships, she will fly to Beijing in July after the 15th National Games (PON) in Surabaya in June."

Harly expressed hope that PRSI would still send Shenny to Beijing even if she failed in the championships.

"As her coach, I want her to have the chance to improve her technical skills. She has a lot of potential. Her dives have a degree of difficulty reaching 3.00 but she needs to compete more."

She also said Shenny had to compete in PON despite lack of rivals because she needs many competitions right now.

Shenny will compete in the platform event along with teammates Eka Purnama Indah (women's springboard), Muhammad Nasrullah (men's platform) and Sukran Jamjami (men's springboard).

The 1999 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games gold medalist failed to perform at her best in the World Championships in Sydney in January.

"She had yet to achieve her peak form and the result was not good. We only tried out in the Olympic swimming pool and observed her potential rivals," Harly said.

Harly, a former diver herself, named Chinese Fu Mingxia as Shenny's toughest rival also divers from Japan, Kazakhstan and Belarus.

Shenny is the second Indonesian to qualify for the Olympics after Myrna Sukasah in the 1976 Olympics in Muenchen.

"I want Shenny to reach her peak in the Olympics and have her milestones in the SEA Games and Asian Games. That's opposed to the National Sports Council (KONI) request that Shenny reach her peak in the SEA Games," Harly said. (yan)