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)