Winsurfers gear up for Olympic qualifications

JAKARTA (JP): National windsurfers Oka Sulaksana and Fadli Faizal must be ranked among the top 20 in the world in order to qualify for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, coach Iskandar Sitompul said on Monday.

Oka and Fadli are training for the pre-Olympic qualifying rounds in Sydney on Sept. 15 to Sept. 26.

Both athletes will then compete in the World Championships from Nov. 18 to Nov. 24. The championships are divided into the Asian Pacific and European zones. The European zone championships will be held in Italy while the Asian Pacific zone championships will take place in Nouma, New Caledonia.

Indonesians must compete in both zone competitions, which will be contested by athletes from 40 countries, for a chance to enter the world's top 20.

Iskandar, who recently attended a meeting on pre-Olympic preparations at the office of the National Sports Council, said the Indonesian Windsurfing and Yachting Association (Porlasi) would begin its centralized training program on June 2 in Bali.

"Now the athletes are training in two different places. Fadli is in Ujungpandang (South Sulawesi) and Oka is in Bali," he said.

Oka -- the gold medalist at the 13th Asian Games in the IMCO heavy division in Pattaya, Thailand, last December -- is the country's best hope of finishing in the top 10 in the Olympics in Sydney. Oka finished 13th in his Olympic debut in Atlanta, Georgia, three years ago.

Porlasi also will hold a national windsurfing championship beginning Thursday and lasting until April 4 at Ancol, North Jakarta.

Separately, the secretary-general of the Indonesian Rowing and Canoeing Association (PODSI), Budiman Setiawan, said Indonesia would send its canoeists and rowers to compete in the Olympic qualifying rounds.

"We are preparing our Southeast Asian Games athletes," Budiman said, declining to name which athletes would take part in the competitions.

Budiman also declined to name the canoeists who would compete in a world competition in Milan, Italy.

PODSI also will send four former Asian Games rowers to compete in the World Championships at Saint Catharines, Canada at the end of August.

The Indonesians will face athletes from 24 countries in the single scull event and athletes from 19 countries in the double scull event. The Indonesians will then fly to Nagano, Japan, to compete in the Asian Championships in October.

"The training program will begin next month at Jatiluhur Dam in Purwakarta, West Java," Budiman said. (ivy)