Shooters named after Asian meet

Shooters named after Asian meet

JAKARTA (JP): The 8th Asian Shooting Championships, slated
here from Oct. 1 to Oct. 10, will be the last opportunity to name
Indonesia's shooters for the 18th Southeast Asian Games in Chiang
Mai, Thailand.

"How many shooters we will eventually send to Chiang Mai
depends on how they and their Southeast Asian rivals finish at
the upcoming Asian championships," Harianto Suprapto, who heads
the championships project, told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

All members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN), including Brunei Darussalam and Vietnam, are among 31
countries which have confirmed their entry for the championships.

Other entrants include Asian powerhouses China, Japan, South
Korea and former Soviet republics Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Depending on how each ASEAN country finishes at the Asian
championships, the Indonesian Shooting Association (Perbakin)
will then make a comparative study chart mapping their strengths
and weaknesses.

Based on the mapping, Perbakin will then determine which
Indonesian sharpshooters are strong enough to at least scoop
silver medals at the SEA Games, which are slated for Dec. 9 to
Dec. 17, and then send them there.

Perbakin's target at the Asian championships is "beating all
its Southeast Asian opponents," said Harianto, who also heads
Perbakin's target shooting department.

The Chiang Mai SEA Games includes 17 shooting events but
Perbakin plans to take part in 11 events only. Among the
Southeast Asian countries, Indonesia is exceptionally strong at
the women's double trap event.

Gold and silver

In the 12th Asian Games in Hiroshima last year, Indonesia's
Sarmunah and teammate Supadmi finished fourth and fifth
respectively behind gold and silver medalists Wang Yujin and Gao
from China and bronze medalist Son Hye-kyoung of South Korea.

"We're hoping for two gold medals from the women's individual
and team double trap events," Harianto said.

But Indonesia's chances of winning a gold medal in that event
as a team may become a dream if the other Southeast Asian
countries do not field a full team in the event, which would
automatically cancel the event.

Countries whose shooters are able to reach minimum
qualification scores for each event contested at the Asian
championships are entitled for wild cards. (arf)