Women archers allowed to compete in PON
Women archers allowed to compete in PON
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Archery Association (Perpani) has
allowed its women archers, who will be groomed for the 2000
Olympic Games in Sydney, to perform in the 15th National Games
(PON) in Surabaya in June.
Perpani deputy secretary-general Andi Suhendro said on Tuesday
there would be no risk of injury to the archers when they perform
in events prior to the Olympic Games, which will start in
September.
He said that Hamdiah, Nurfitriyana and Lusia Elizabeth would
join the centralized Olympics training preparation held by the
National Sports Council (KONI) on Feb. 1.
Hamdiah is currently training in her hometown in East
Kalimantan, and her teammates are being drilled here under
supervision of South Korean coach Lee Jae-hyung.
"PON will also serve as one of the warm-up tournaments for the
archers. They can improve their competitiveness at the national
event," he said.
Andi said Lee had prepared the training program for the
Olympics.
"According to the program, the archers will spend two or three
months here before they leave for Bali for climatic adjustment.
Bali's climate is quite like Australia's," he said.
He said Lee had also proposed that the archers train with
South Korean archers for one month to sharpen skills and boost
motivation.
"South Korean archers still reign in the world. But in the
team event, they are below the Italian archery team," he said.
Speaking on behalf of the foreign coach for Olympic training,
Andi said that Lee would continue to train the women's archers
until the end of the quadrennial event.
"He has high hopes for our archers. He said he would enable
our archers to perform in the Olympics. He said he didn't care
about his salary, as long as he was given the chance to prove his
coaching capability," Andi said.
He expected that KONI would help pay for Lee's salary during
training. He said Perpani had signed a two-year contract with Lee
which started in Dec. 1998 with a monthly salary of US$3,000.
"We pay him $2,000 in cash, and the remaining $1,000 in rupiah
with an exchange value of Rp 5,000 to the dollar. We also provide
him with accommodation and transportation," he said. (ivy)