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.