Swimmer Catherine Surya to miss 13th Asian Games
JAKARTA (JP): With only less than a month before the 13th Asian Games in Bangkok, Indonesia may lose its hope to win medals in the pool after its best swimmer Catherine Surya withdrew from the event.
Catherine, winner of three golds at last year's 19th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games here, injured her thigh during a regular practice in Australia.
The Indonesian Swimming Federation's technical director, Lukman Niode, expressed his regret on Tuesday over Catherine's injury.
"Catherine has been showing progress during her overseas stint but her injury will seriously affect her preparations for the quadrennial event," Lukman said.
The 19-year-old swimmer, who has been training in Australia since the SEA Games, had been expected to win a medal either in the 100 or 200 meters butterfly.
Lukman said Indonesia would put all its hopes on Rita, who is now training in the United States, in the 100 and 200 meters breaststroke.
Rita is expected to take on tough challenges from Chinese, Japanese and South Korean swimmers. Lukman said that performance- wise Rita should manage sixth place in the 200m breaststroke.
Separately, the Indonesian Weightlifting, Powerlifting and Bodybuilding Association's secretary-general, Djoko Pramono, said on Monday that national women lifters were expected to win one silver and one bronze at the Asiad.
Indonesia is grooming female lifters Winarni and Supeni in the 53kg division and Sri Indriyani in the 48-kilogram division and male lifters 62-kg Taufik and 69-kg Erwin Abdullah.
While female lifters look to shine, Djoko said national male lifters would only manage to finish sixth.
Djoko predicted lifters from ex-Soviet countries as tough rivals during the Asiad.
Weightlifting will be contested from Dec. 6 to Dec. 14 at the Muang Thong Thani Indoor Stadium.
Optimism
Meanwhile, chief of the national centralized training camp, Albert Paruntu, expressed his optimism that Indonesia could do better than it did in the 1994 Asiad in Hiroshima, where it finished 11th overall with three golds it won in badminton.
"All athletes are ready to fight it out. They will also be prepared to cope with possible psychological terror from local supporters," he said as quoted by Antara on Monday.
Indonesia has never excelled on Thai soil, losing to the spirited host team in the 1985 and 1995 Southeast Asian Games in Bangkok and Chiang Mai respectively.
Paruntu said he had anticipated the host's tricks that might cost Indonesia medals during the upcoming Asiad.
"We've learned the tricks, including unexpected changes in the competition schedules or late entries to the Thai contingent," he said.
Paruntu said he had formed an advanced team which would go to Bangkok to study sports venues. (yan)