Tae kwon do team to be announced next week
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Tae kwon do Association (TI) will announce the Kuala Lumpur 2001 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games squad next week, canceling the original plan to announce it this week.
TI planned to announce the squad members on Saturday following a trial session between all tae kwon doins preparing for the SEA Games at the Ragunan sports complex in South Jakarta, but it was canceled due to further considerations.
"We planned to announce the team today but it will be better if we further consider each tae kwon doin's achievement during the training session," TI's secretary general Adrian Lumowa said.
"Actually, it is easy to review which tae kwon doin has done well today and which has not. But the trial session's result is not the only consideration to be taken into account."
"There is a possibility that a tae kwon doin failed to perform well today but has actually shown good progress during training. We expect he or she to be able to recover his or her best performance."
Indonesia will send a full team of eight fighters in each men's and women's division to Kuala Lumpur and the announcement is expected to be made sometime next week.
"TI officials will have a meeting on Monday to give further evaluation before announcing the team. I hope we can have the result on Tuesday at the earliest," said Adrian.
"The other considerations are their techniques and skills, as well as their mental strength to fight in an international event like the SEA Games."
Adrian said TI would give special consideration to tae kwon doins' mental strength for the biennial event from Sept. 8 to Sept. 17.
"Most of our tae kwon doins usually fail in tournaments abroad, although they win national championships. Only some of them are capable of winning a title abroad," he said.
"We don't want our tae kwon doins to fail in coping with the pressure in Kuala Lumpur."
TI is aiming to grab four of the 16 golds at stake.
Indonesian tae kwon doins will compete at the Taekwondo World Championships in Seoul in June. (nvn)