Veteran swimmers still relied on for SEAG gold

Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Seven veterans will be on the 24-member Indonesian swimming team for the upcoming Southeast Asian (SEA) Games with an official saying that he expected one last golden hurrah from them.

Among the veterans are Elsa Manora Nasution and Richard Sam Bera. Richard has been the dominant force in the region since he burst onto the scene in 1991.

His latest achievement was winning Indonesia's only two gold medals in the swimming competition at the 2001 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur.

"We are looking forward to watching the senior swimmers make some surprising runs in the event," Radja, the team's head coach, told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of the Governor's Cup at the Bung Karno swimming pool here on Thursday.

The upcoming SEA Games will be staged in Vietnam in December, where, according to Radja, his squad would aim simply at surpassing the gold collection in Kuala Lumpur.

Nine of his young squad members are currently taking part in the three-day Governor's Cup, a competition that Radja considers a good scrimmage for his proteges.

The swimmers are Arya Swardika, Ariski Darmadi, Donny B. Utomo, Ivan Komara, Billy Arfianto, Herry Yudhianto, Ira Kurniawan, Dyah Ayu Rahmani and Yuliana Malindha.

"Their performance in the championships have been quite satisfying," Radja said, adding that his swimmers were not tapering at all for the event, in fact they were still training heavily each morning despite the afternoon races.

Besides those swimmers, the team has two of the squad training abroad with Akbar Nasution in the United States and Sherly Yunita in Australia.

He said that most of the young swimmers would participate in the relay events.