Young archer Rahmat puts pressure on seniors for 2003 SEAG squad
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.