Woman lifter Sriyani banned for one year

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Weightlifting, Powerlifting and Bodybuilding Association has banned women's lifter Sriyani from all competition for one year because of her indisciplined attitude toward training for the 13th Asian Games.

The association's secretary-general, Djoko Pramono, said yesterday that the ban was enacted on Aug. 1.

Sriyani becomes the first national lifter to be banned from competition for a non-drug related offense. The Southeast Asian Games gold medalist was expelled from the training center last month.

"We found out after she was selected for the latest national squad on March 31 that her attitude was considerably lacking. She never practiced, always woke up late and failed to meet the standards of physical fitness required to join the training," Djoko said.

The dismissal means that seven lifters are now left in the national training program. They are male lifters Taufik and Misdan and female lifters Sri Indriyani and Winarni who are based at the Pringsewu training center in Lampung under the tutelage of Imron Rosadi. Erwin Abdullah and Hari Setiawan on the men's side and Supeni on the women's side are based in Ragunan, South Jakarta and are coached by Sori Enda Nasution who replaced the late Harry Wibowo.

Djoko said Indonesia had high expectations of the musclewomen, whom he predicted would finish in the top five in the Asiad in December.

He said China was the biggest worry because it was difficult to gauge their true strength. "They often field their second- string lifters in international events," he said.

The association will hold the final selection in a competition to be held between Aug. 19 and Aug. 24 at Hotel Indonesia in Central Jakarta. It will coincide with the junior weightlifting championships which features 150 athletes.

Djoko said Indonesia would skip the world championships in October because it fell too close to the Asiad. (yan)