'Wushu' athletes to go overseas

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Wushu Association plans to have Indonesian wushu athletes participate in international competitions in a bid to popularize the martial art.

Mediteransjah, the association's newly installed chairman, said on Friday that the athletes would go for a series of tryouts at the international wushu festival in Beijing from July 24 to July 25 and the Penang Open in Malaysia from Aug. 24 to Sept. 1 before competing in the World Championships in Hong Kong from Nov. 1 to Nov. 7.

"We want a gold in the world championships. We want to set up a wushu community in this country, which will support the sport's development, such as funding the athletes," he said.

He also said the new committee members were preparing for a championship to replace the sport which will not be featured in the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games. "We offered to the Southeast Asian countries to host the event in Bali this year," he said.

Mediteransjah was sworn in to lead the association for the 1999-2004 term. He is assisted by, among others, deputy chairmen Timbul Thomas Lubis and Supandi Kusuma, secretary-general Agus Susanto and his deputy Ngatino, and treasurer Djohan Gunawan and his deputy Azwar Chesputra.(ivy)