Sunter Lake an ideal venue for skiing: Coach

JAKARTA (JP): Water skiing coach Nico Abdurahman said yesterday that North Jakarta's Sunter Lake was suitable for 19th SEA Games water skiing events.

Indonesia's water skiing team has been training there while waiting for the organizing committee's final decision on where to hold the water skiing events.

"We hope the SEA Games water skiing events will be at Sunter Lake," he said.

Nico said the home team would have an advantage if the competition was held at the lake because the team was used to the conditions there.

Using the lake for water skiing exercises has drawn criticism because the water there is reported to be heavily polluted.

There have been suggestions of moving the training center to Lido, West Java or Bali.

"The water at Sunter is not as bad as reported, none of the athletes have complained of skin diseases," he said.

Nico said the home team expected to snatch as many of the six water skiing gold medals on offer as possible. The skiers will compete in trick, jumping and slalom events.

"The team will try to win more than the two golds targeted by the National Sports Council," he said.

SEA Games national training director Djoko Pramono earlier said he thought Indonesia's water skiing team could win at least three gold medals.

"I have no doubts about the water skiing team's ability as some of them have also trained in the U.S," said Djoko.

Water skiing has not been included in the SEA Games events since 1987.

Thailand and Singapore are strong rivals in the sport.

The Indonesian Association of Water Sports has named a team of 12 athletes to represent Indonesia in the water skiing events. Among the 12 are David Tulong, Rahardjo Priambodo, Fath Dawud Wangka, Malik Zulkarnaen, Nuni Nurdijati, Inawati Setiawan and Yolanda Baiq.

Water skiing athletes Rahardjo, Nunie and Fath set new records at the KASAL Cup championships that concluded Sunday.

Rahardjo broke a new national record in the men's jump event with 40.62 meters. His previous national record was 39.46 meters

Nunie Nurdiyati also set a new record in the women's jump event with 26.89 meters. Her last record was 25.06 meters. Fath too broke a national record of 12 meters in men's slalom event.

"I hope I improve on my record in the 19th SEA Games," said Fath. (03)