Windsurfer Oka qualifies for Olympics

Windsurfer Oka qualifies for Olympics

JAKARTA (JP): Windsurfer Oka Sulaksana nailed down his ticket
to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney by finishing 35th in the
golden fleet class of the World Championships in Noumea, New
Caledonia, last week.

Oka's qualification adds to the list of Indonesian athletes
who will compete in the Olympics from Sept. 15 to Oct. 1, 2000.

Indonesian Yachting and Windsurfing Association (Porlasi)
secretary-general Aji Sularto said on Tuesday Indonesia finished
in 11th place among the 22 countries participating in the 12-race
competition which ended on Sunday.

Aji said Chinese and Japanese windsurfers also qualified for
the Olympics during the competition.

"It now depends on the National Sports Council (KONI) to send
Oka to Sydney. We have prepared and fought hard to enable Oka to
qualify for the Olympics," he was quoted by Antara new agency as
saying.

Aji was skeptical about the likelihood of Oka improving his
performance in the Olympics due to the lack of financial support
from Porlasi.

"We hope KONI will support Oka. There are still many circuits
in Europe which can be used as warm-ups for Oka prior to the
Olympics," he said.

Aji also said Porlasi could not hire world-class windsurfing
coach Amith Inbar of Israel, who was scheduled to accompany Oka
to Noumea, because he already coached for another country.

Oka -- the 1998 Asian Games gold medalist in the IMCO heavy
division in Thailand -- is the country's best hope of finishing
among the top 10 in the windsurfing competition at the Olympics.

The Bali-native finished 13th in his Olympic debut in Atlanta,
Georgia, in 1996.

The windsurfing competition at the Olympics is limited to 40
athletes. Eligibility is based on performances in the World
Championships in New Caledonia and the pre-Olympic competition in
Sydney in February 2000, with the winners of the Asian-Pacific,
Australian-Oceania, North American, South American and European
zones also qualifying. The international windsurfing body will
also provide five wild cards, including one for the host country.

Separately, KONI reported that 10 athletes, excluding Oka, had
qualified for the Olympics. The 10 athletes are women's sprinter
Irene Truitje Joseph; women's archer Hamdiah; men's swimmers
Richard Sam Bera, Wisnu Wardhana, Albert Sutanto, Felix Sutanto
and Akbar Nasution; women's swimmer Elsa Manora Nasution; women's
diver Shenny Ratna Amelia; and women's tae kwon doin Juana Wangsa
Putri.

Women's weightlifters Sri Indriyani and Winarni also qualified
for the Olympics after taking silver medals at the ongoing World
Championships in Athens.

National tennis player Wynne Prakusya has asked KONI to apply
to the Sydney Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games for a
wild card.

KONI official in charge of athlete development Mochamad
Hindarto said he would consider the request.

"She is still young. She might not achieve an astonishing
performance at the Olympics, but to compete in the world event
could boost her motivation for the future," he said.

Hindarto also said the centralized training program for the
Olympics must begin by February. However, he said the council had
yet to receive the expected Rp 6.9 billion (US$985,720) from the
government to fund the training. (ivy)