Wrestling team putting youth over experience

Wrestling team putting youth over experience

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

While familiar faces predominate in other sports, leading to
repeated warnings of the lack of regeneration in national sports,
the country's wrestling team has youth firmly on its side.

Only one of the 11-strong team, 27-year-old Andrianto, is
above 25 years of age.

Indonesian Wrestling Association (PGSI) secretary-general
Endro Sumarjo said recently he did not want anyone older than
Andrianto to participate in this year's Southeast Asian (SEA)
Games in the Philippines.

Other members of the team are Suryanto, 24, Murifin, 25,
Jumain, 22, Rudy Septhadi, 21, Aji Sutrisno, 23, and Agustaf, 22,
in the men's section, and Ana Carolina, 20, Dewi Ulfah, 17, Sulis
Yuliani, 20, and Ika A. Salatun, 25, for women.

The youth of the athletes was no barrier to them doing well,
Endro said.

"Although our team is dominated by young athletes, we want to
keep our promise that every athlete will contribute medals for
the country. Those athletes are number one or two at home."

Favorites for gold are Suryanto, who will compete in the 55
kilogram division, and 66-kilogram wrestler Murifin.

"The two wrestlers are the leading athletes at the moment.
Murifin and Suryanto finished second and third respectively in
the SEA Games two years ago," he said.

He said Vietnam and the host would be the toughest
competitors, although Thailand remains an unknown quantity.

In the 2003 SEA Games in Hanoi, Indonesia failed to win a
gold, but collected four silver and six bronze. Vietnam swept 18
golds.

The wrestlers have undergone training in three phases: from
January to March in East Kalimantan, and from April to July in
Jakarta.

In August, the wrestlers departed to Guangzhou -- renowned as
the hub for Chinese sports development -- for a stepped-up
training program.

A Chinese coach and two Indonesian coaches are supervising
their final training -- which included an Oct. 8 contest against
Chinese athletes in Beijing -- before they depart for Manila in
late November.

"Up through the SEA Games, we will have more duel meets
although they won't be as tough as our sparring session with
Chinese wrestlers. The competition will be good to maintain their
performance level," Endro said.