Young karatekas bid for Asiad task
Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesia's campaign to win karate medals at the Asian Games next year would focus on its young guns, an official said Wednesday.
Indonesian Karate-Do Federation (FORKI) athletes development chief Tono Soe'oed said the policy was aimed at giving exposure to young karatekas and to examine whether the regeneration program now underway was working.
"We are quite late in preparing young fighters compared to, among others, our neighbor Malaysia, whose young karate fighters did well at the recent Southeast Asian (SEA) Games," Tono said. Host Malaysia dominated karate at the games, winning nine of 19 golds at stake.
"Indonesia has long been banking on veteran fighters in order to reach our medal winning targets but forgotten to develop younger ones."
However Tono said some veterans would be given places in the national team bound for the Asian Games in Pusan, South Korea, as long as they managed to maintain their top form.
"We will need the services of senior fighters especially in kata events," he said.
FORKI has announced seven fighters for the Asian Games, but Tono warned that the list would be trimmed depending on an individual's performance.
Topping the list are Mohammad Hasan Basri of East Java and Jenny Zeannet of Jakarta, both will have to kick off their training program immediately.
Arif Taufan (South Sumatra), Bambang Maulidin (Aceh), Sonny Simangasing (East Java), Sandra Aryani (North Sumatra) and Aswan Ali (East Java) have been registered as secondary options and will start their training next January.
There will be 11 gold medals at stake in individual events and four in the team events at the Asian Games, which will open late September. The organizers have limited each participating country to only five fighters.
FORKI will also summon some 120 fighters from all chapters to join a one-month training camp in March before competing at the national championship vying for the Indonesian Army Chief of Staff Cup in April.
During the tournament, the association will scout some fighters for the Indonesian Open international competition scheduled for July or August.