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)