TI coy about its medal prospects at Busan AG

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian Tae kwon do Association (TI), which is currently preparing eight athletes, has stalled about its medal prospects at the upcoming Asian Games.

"Only coaches and athletes know their prospects at the Asian Games. If I determined a target for them to achieve I would be putting them in an awkward position," TI chairman Suharto told a media conference here on Tuesday.

The tentative team of four male and female athletes in the training camp include Satriyo Rahadani, Derry Darmansyah, Basuki Nugraha, Rosandi, Juana Wangsa Putri, Ika Dian Fitri, Emeralda Margaret and Onyas Nurmala.

"You'd better ask them (the athletes and coaches) if you want to know how we should rate our chances in Busan," he said. Busan, the port city located on the southeastern tip of South Korea, is the venue of the 2002 Asian Games, which will run from Sept. 29 to Oct. 14.

The eight have just returned from their participation in a Korean tournament, to which TI also fielded another eight athletes outside the national squad as part of the long-term program.

Neither was Adrian Lumowa, in charge of the athletes' preparation, straightforward in revealing the association's aspirations for the athletes.

Adrian said he and the association had become more optimistic after the Korean tryout, where the Indonesian squad brought home four gold medals.

Two were won by Satriyo and Derry and the other two by the accompanying team through Joko Arianto of East Java and Ernita Novianti of Jakarta.

"We are optimistic about our medal chances. The athletes have been growing confident," he said, adding that they had beat traditionally tough Koreans en route to their final matches.

The five-day Korean tryout, which finished at the weekend, was the last of their planned three overseas stints. They can participate in yet another warmup when the LG Electronics- sponsored national tae kwon do championship starts its four-day competition at the Bung Karno Indoor Tennis Hall on Thursday.

However, it would be left to the respective provincial chapters to decide whether they would be fielded at the LG Cup, according to Suharto.

Aris Suherman, from the LG Cup organizers, said that the annual tournament would feature 383 athletes from 26 provinces, with the remaining four provinces -- West Nusa Tenggara, Southeast Sulawesi, North Sumatra and North Maluku -- having yet to confirm their participation.