Young archer Rahmat puts pressure on seniors for 2003 SEAG squad
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
National debutante archer Rahmat Sulistyawan took a big step toward a place on the Indonesian archery team for the 2002 Asian Games after he finished in top place at a tryout which ended on Thursday.
The three-day competition, which was one of three tryouts planned before the final team is announced, saw Rahmat, who joined the team in January, overcome his seniors both in the singles' round and the Olympic round at the Ragunan archery range in South Jakarta.
Although Rahmat put in an impressive performance, coach Denny Trisyanto said that it was still too early to say whether the 16 year old, now in the first year of the Ragunan Sports School, would make the team.
"We have still to hold another two tryouts in June. Let's see whether Rahmat deserves to be included on the team," Denny told reporters while watching his squad take aim with their bows.
He gave a hint of a probable change in the tryout range so as to provide the athletes with experience on different ground. In the case of Rahmat, he added, he would have to prove that he could also produce the goods away from his own turf.
Plans for overseas tryouts have also been made for China in June and South Korea in September.
On Thursday, Rahmat showed his domination in the Olympic round, in which the archers played a round-robin competition. He defeated the rest of the team to collect 822 points.
He scored 1,287 points in the singles round the day before, outplaying Lockoneco, Koeswantoro and Iko Widharyanto, the three being former members of the Indonesian winning team in the 2001 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Kuala Lumpur.
"There's no doubt that I have benefited from joining the team. I get technical instruction from the coaches and I see that I have been making significant progress after only three months," Rahmat said during a talk with Wismoyo Arismunandar, the chairman of the National Sports Council (KONI).
Arismunandar and his entourage had talks with the 12 athletes -- six men and six women -- after Thursday's competition.
In the women's division, Gina Rahayu and Suci Dwi Megasari, both former SEA Games squad members, showed that experience counted on the field.
Gina topped the field in the Olympic round while Suci did the same in the singles' round.
Archery training director Udi Harsono said that unlike their women's compatriots, the results showed that the men had generally shown progress since joining the training camp and that they would be able to further develop their skills ahead of the Asian Games.
However, their scores remained far below both Asian and world records, with KONI warning the archers against relaxing their training schedule if they wanted to go on to Busan, South Korea, where the Asiad will take place from Sept. 29 to Oct. 14.