Wushu athletes to train in China
Wushu athletes to train in China
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's wushu athletes will undergo a two-
month overseas stint in China in July in preparation for the 19th
SEA Games here in October.
The Indonesia Wushu Association chairman Antonius Haliman said
yesterday the Games athletes, being groomed here and in Surabaya,
would also take part in several tournaments in three countries in
April and May. Wushu is a martial art originating from China.
"We'll send our athletes for a series of tryouts with
Singaporean and Malaysian counterparts in April and next month
we'll send them to Myanmar and Vietnam," he said.
Negotiations are still continuing with the National Sports
Council to finance the athletes to take part in the Asian
Championships in Pusan, South Korea, in June.
Antonius said the association is eying to grab as many gold
medals as possible.
"Indonesian athletes have a chance to win gold in the thaullo
(non-combat event) and san-shouw (free fight) events," he said.
Twenty-five thaullo, a division of wushu, athletes, 12 of
which are female, are practicing in Surabaya. Fifteen san-shouw
athletes, all male, are being coached here.
Four male and four female thaullo athletes will be selected
for the final Games team. Only five of the 15 san-shouw athletes
will join the main squad.
The final selection will take place on May 1, according to the
council's plan.
"Most of our athletes are still in training on May 1, and it's
difficult for us to make a decision on the final team," he said.
"But since this is an order, we will try to boost the
selection process," he added.
Antara reported that wushu competition at the SEA Games will
offer 19 gold medals; seven gold medals for male thaullo, seven
gold medals for female thaullo and five gold medals for san-
shouw.
Indonesia has predicted athletes from the Philippines,
Malaysia and Thailand might pose a threat to Indonesia's medal
bid in the wushu competition.
"The Philippines and Malaysia are very good in thaullo and
san-shouw. But Thailand is only good in san-shouw because most of
their athletes are recruited from Thai-boxing," he said. (yan)