Yachtsmen first athletes to depart for Busan

Yachtsmen first athletes to depart for Busan

Musthofid
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

Members of the yachting team will be the first of Indonesia's
contingent to leave for Busan, South Korea, for the 2002 Asian
Games, according to a contingent official.

The yacht team, which comprises athletes Oka Sulaksana, Fadly
Faisal Yusuf and team manager Gurhadi Kartasasmita, will depart
on Saturday.

"They need to get to the venue as early as possible to adapt
to the local climate," IGK Manila, who is in charge for general
affairs, said here on Wednesday.

Manila said that the yacht team would also need to get used to
the coaching style of Bruce Kendall. The New Zealander will give
the athletes final pointers a few days before they compete.

Oka contributed one of the six gold medals Indonesia won at
the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok.

The Indonesian sporting delegation to Busan is made up of 100
athletes and 60 officials. The athletes will feature in 20 of the
38 sports included in the two-week competition by the Busan Asian
Games Organizing Committee (BAGOC).

The need to allow ample time for acclimatization will also
push the cycling and archery contenders to camp earlier. With a
total of 26 members, the squads are scheduled to fly on Sept. 16.

Led by Manila, the teams will stay at the athletes' village
located in Banyeo-dong Haeundae-gu, Busan. The village is made up
of 20 buildings, each between 16 and 25 floors, with capacity to
accommodate 14,000 people.

The largest batch of the Indonesian contingent will fly on
Sept. 22, led by chef de mission Rudolf Warouw, who is the
secretary general of the National Sports Council (KONI).

The last members of the contingent, according to Manila, will
be those from tennis and badminton. They are scheduled to depart
on Sept. 28, just one day before the official opening of the
games.

However, tennis aces Angelique Widjaja and Wynne Prakusya may
not be able to leave as scheduled depending on how they make
progress in their participation at the Wismilak international
tennis tournament in Bali.

The US$225,000 tournament, where Angelique will defend the
women's singles title she won last year, will run from Sept. 23
to 28.

The 14th Asian Games will be participated in by 42 Asian
countries. Thirty-eight sports with an overall 418 events will be
contested at the games.