Synchronized swimmers eye 2 silvers at SEAG
JAKARTA (JP): Mindful of its athletes' lack of experience, the Indonesian Swimming Federation (PRSI) is targeting two silver medals in synchronized swimming at the Kuala Lumpur 2001 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.
"We only hope to get two silver medals from the solo and duet events in Kuala Lumpur. Our swimmers are relatively new and still inexperienced compared to the swimmers from Malaysia and Thailand," coach Dinda Rahmani said.
"Also, Malaysia and Thailand both hire foreign coaches and have their synchronized swimmers participating in European events," she added.
Dinda was speaking on the sidelines of the opening ceremony for the mini-polo water national championship at the Bung Karno swimming pool on Thursday.
The water polo event is also serving as a public demonstration for the Indonesian synchronized swimmers taking part in the World Championships from July 16 to July 19 in Fukuoka, Japan.
Indonesia will be relying on Tyas Titisari and Merlin Anggreny in the duet event and Shelvy Melowa in the solo event.
"Since they have a lack of public performances, such a demonstration is important to boost their confidence. They are prone to stage fright in front of the public.
"This is also a warm-up for their participation in Fukuoka. We can't hope to achieve any real success in Fukuoka, so our target is to get as much experience as possible and to learn from world- class teams.
"I am not yet satisfied with the performance of the swimmers, especially their power dynamics and explosion of movements. But I am sure we can improve their performance before heading to Kuala Lumpur," she said.
In other news, PRSI has sent three of its swimmers to the U.S. to train for the SEA Games. The expenses of the swimmers will be covered through a sponsorship.
"Men's swimmers Richard Sam Bera and Albert Sutanto started their training early this month, while women's swimmer Siripiya Sutanto followed two weeks later," PRSI vice secretary chairman Dadeng Kurnia said.
"There are also several other swimmers who are training abroad at their own expense. Hany Dwi Prasetyo is also training in the U.S. while Yohanna Prayogo is training in Canada after moving there with her parents. We also have Andy Wibowo who is training in China," he said.
PRSI expects the swimmers to contribute at least five gold medals in the SEA Games.
"We still expect Albert and Richard to contribute one or two gold medals while we also expect Siripiya to get a gold medal," Dadeng said.
"Other swimmers, such as Andy and Yohana, are expected to at least contribute silver medals," he added.
PRSI is currently training 14 swimmers for Kuala Lumpur. The other swimmers are Akbar Muhammad Nasution, Henrik Eko AP and Arman Panji in the men's division, and Ati Yuliani, Magdalena Sutanto, Renitya Julius, Farida Aryati and Dyah Ayu Rahmani in the women's division. (nvn)