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.