W. Java keeps tae kwon do championship
W. Java keeps tae kwon do championship
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
West Java retained the national tae kwon do championship after
winning an overall nine gold medals in the four-day LG Cup, which
ended on Sunday at the Bung Karno Tennis Indoor Hall here.
The champion, who also won the title in 2001, added four
silvers and a bronze to its collection.
Jakarta finished in second place with four gold, two silver
and four bronze medals followed by East Java in third with one
gold and four bronzes.
Out of the 26 participating provinces, nine ended up without
winning a single medal.
Onyas Nurmala, a national squad member for the 2002 Asian
Games, led West Java's triumphant round-off of the competition
with a victory in the women's lightweight division.
Onyas was too strong for Susan Oktaria, winning the final
match 9-5. Lambok Parulian took the other gold after beating
Andre Darwin of Central Java in the men's finweight final.
Lambok, who was the late replacement of 2001 gold medalist
Imam Dalam, was involved in a tight match with Andre to tie at 9-
9 but the West Javanese was declared the winner for playing more
aggressively.
West Java could have brought the collection to 10, but Bayu
Firmansyah was narrowly beaten by Yanuardo G.S. of Jakarta 5-4 in
the final match of the men's lightweight.
In the women's finweight final, Sri Sartika beat Regina Maya
of Central Java to earn Yogyakarta its only gold medal. The match
was again decided on levels of aggressiveness after the two
athletes evened the score at 3-3.
Oh Il Nam, technical advisor of the national squad, attributed
West Java's success to its consistency in athletes' development.
"They do not have exceptionally remarkable skills. Their
technical skills and tactics are generally on a par with others.
They just appear to have prepared a sound workout before the
match," Oh told reporters.
"The fact they have trained more frequently, either in local
competitions or in a routine training, gives them additional
merit," he said.
West Java's team coach Defie said the team had trained for six
weeks ahead of the tournament.
"We have a talent-scouting team, which is given the task of
monitoring potential athletes," he told The Jakarta Post. "The
current squad members are made up of old and new faces, with the
composition being fifty-fifty," he said, adding the team was
looking ahead to Palembang, South Sumatra, where the National
Championships will be held in 2004.
Oh deplored the lack of competitiveness of the tournament due
to the absence of some of the national athletes. "If they
(national athletes) all had taken part, the tournament would have
been much tighter," he said.
"Not only would the average players have received good
experience against world-class athletes, but the national members
would also have been able to gauge their skills before their
departure to Busan," he added.
Busan, South Korea, is the venue of the 2002 Asian Games for
which the Indonesian Tae Kwon Do Association (TI) is currently
preparing eight athletes.