Tae kwon doins urged to improve for Asiad

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian Tae Kwon Do Association (TI) has given four of its Asian Games nominees a second chance to enhance their performance before they are deemed whether or not eligible for the Korean trip.

TI has eight athletes candidates now in preparations for the Asian Games, which will be staged in Busan, South Korea, from Sept. 29 until Oct. 14.

Given their latest record of performance in the May's Jordan tournament, four look set to secure their places in the team while the other four have yet to show their best when the 16- strong Indonesian team takes part in Chung Cheong Festival in South Korea, scheduled for June 15 - July 5.

"We give the foursome another chance in Korea," Adrian Lumowa, TI's secretary general, said in a meeting with officials of the National Sports Council (KONI) here on Friday.

The four athletes are Derry Darmansyah (bantamweight), Basuki Nugroho (welterweight), Rosandi (middleweight) and female fellow Onyas Nurmala (lightweight).

"We are keen to see they bounce from what they got in Jordan," Adrian said. The athletes could only reach the quarterfinals round in Jordan.

The other group of four, whose Jordan run appeared to live up to expectation, are Ika Dian Putri (finweight), Juana Wangsa Putri (flyweight), Emerald Margaret (middleweight) and male fellow Satrio Rahardani (flyweight).

Another eight, young athletes have also been included in the team for the Korean tryout with TI pinning long-term hopes on them that they will be able to spark fire at the 2003 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Vietnam.

Adrian said that the association would not have a fixed lineup of athletes for the Asian Games until after the team members wound up their last warmup matches at the National LG Cup tournament in July.

"We will see and decide which of them has come up to our vision that only those with medal prospect should go to Korea," he said.