TI still trying to get wild card for Satrio
TI still trying to get wild card for Satrio
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Taekwondo Association (TI) is
still trying to land a wild card for national men's flyweight
athlete Satrio Rahardani to compete in the 2000 Olympic Games in
Sydney.
Association secretary-general Ahmad Zarkasih Hamid told The
Jakarta Post on Wednesday that TI was still unsure about Satrio's
chances of receiving the wild card as the World Taekwondo
Federation (WTF) restricted the dispensation to countries whose
athletes failed to qualify for the competition in the quadrennial
multisports event.
Athletes from 44 countries have come through previous
qualifying rounds. Women's flyweight Taekwon Doin Juana Wangsa
Putri is the lone Indonesian qualifier.
Juana earned her Olympic berth after reaching the semifinals
of the pre-Olympics qualifying round in Croatia in July. Other
qualifiers in the division are American Kay Poe, Dondu Guveno of
Turkey and Huan Mai Thi Nguyen of Vietnam.
Juana is scheduled to warm up in several competitions next
year. On her schedule is the U.S. Open in Honolulu, Hawaii, from
Feb. 2 to Feb. 6, the Dutch Open in Nijmegen, the Netherlands,
from March 10 to March 12, the Belgium Open in Brussels from
April 1 to April 2 and the Korea Open in June.
TI will need US$90,000 to cover her expenses.
Zarkasih said TI was holding informal discussions with
officials of the Sydney Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games
(SOCOG) to try to win a wild card for Satrio.
"So far, SOCOG officials only said that they would consider
our request. We'll formally send a letter requesting the wild
card," he said. "Satrio is a silver medalist from the 1998 Asian
Games in Bangkok and he is undergoing training in Korea. Those
factors hopefully can be included in SOCOG's consideration."
The country's chances are slim to land a wild card for women's
middleweight Sinta Berliana Heru, the 1999 Southeast Asian Games
gold medalist.
Both Juana and Satrio have received wild cards to compete in
the National Games (PON) in Surabaya next year.
TI will select 114 athletes to compete in PON in the first LG
Cup National Championships from Nov. 28 to Nov. 30 at Senayan
Indoor Stadium.
Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Gen.
Wiranto, who is the head of TI's board of patrons, is expected to
officially open the championships.
Zarkasih expressed appreciation to the association of Korean
businessmen in Indonesia which provided support to the athletes'
tryouts abroad to sharpen their skills. (ivy)