Wrestling body targets Olympic qualification
Wrestling body targets Olympic qualification
Jupriadi, The Jakarta Post, Makassar
The Indonesian Wrestling Association (PGSI) is now setting its
sights on producing athletes competent of qualifying for the
Olympic Games, having already dominated the Southeast Asian
region for a long time.
"It is quite possible that Indonesian wrestlers can meet the
high demands of international competition, especially the
Olympics," PGSI chairman Andi Ghalib said at the opening of the
23rd National Wrestling Championships at Mattoangin Stadium on
Tuesday.
He said the five-day event would serve as a means of national
selection for the Southeast Asian Wrestling Championships to be
hosted by Indonesia in Jakarta next month.
The national championships offer 16 gold medals in the Greco-
Roman and freestyle events, featuring 169 athletes from 19 of
PGSI's provincial chapters.
Absent from the competition are wrestlers from Aceh, Bali,
Gorontalo, Maluku, North Maluku, East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa
Tenggara, Central Sulawesi and North Sulawesi.
The event's overall winner will be awarded the coveted
President's Cup.
Tuesday's program saw the Greco-Roman preliminary rounds in
the 50kg, 54kg, 58kg, 63kg, 85kg, 97kg and 130kg weight
categories.
The freestyle events will start on Wednesday.
Jakarta is touted as favorite for the overall title and
displace defending champion East Java. West Java and Lampung are
also teams expected to mount a challenge.
The Southeast Asian Wrestling Championships have been
reinstated in response to the sport's absence from the SEA Games
in Kuala Lumpur last month.
"Malaysia refused to stage wrestling at the SEA Games last
month due to fears that Indonesia would have taken all of the 16
gold medals," Ghalib said.
"Wrestlers should not be disappointed (with the sport's no-
show at the SEA Games) as it was just one of the host's methods
of securing its dream of winning the overall title. They should
prove their might in the Southeast Asian championships.
"We must also keep training hard because the Hanoi 2003 SEA
Games will surely have wrestling back in the program," he added.
Meanwhile, PGSI executive director Endro Sumardjo said the
association would pay attention to security matters for the SEA
Championships following the U.S. and British attacks on
Afghanistan.
"We will communicate all issues related to the championships,
although all nine countries have yet to file any complaints," he
was quoted as saying by Antara news agency.
"Several countries have confirmed their participation,
including their women's wrestlers participation in exhibition
events," he added.