RI karate squad finish top at Open

Agnes Winarti, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Fri, 06/03/2011

Indonesian top-ranked karatekas struck gold at the Indonesia Open karate championships, sweeping 16 of the 19 gold medals.

Three other gold were grabbed by Malaysian athletes.

The competition, which concluded in Jakarta on Thursday, had been touted by organizers as a test for the upcoming 26th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, as it featured the participation of athletes from 10 countries, including all participants to the Games except Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. Australian and Iranian athletes also took part in the event.

Eight of Indonesia’s 16 gold medals were decided on Thursday, when Yolanda Asmuruf won the women’s individual open kumite (fight) event, Hendro Salim won the men’s individual open kumite, Telly Melinda won the women’s 50-kilogram class kumite, Imam Tauhid won the men’s 55-kilogram class kumite, the Indonesian teams clinched the women’s and men’s kata (performance), and men’s and women’s kumite team events.

In the first day of the two-day championships, Yolanda snatched her first gold in the women’s individual 68-kilogram class kumite and led the country’s haul that day of eight gold medals.

The rest of the gold medals were mined by veteran karateka Umar Syarief in the men’s individual 84-kilogram class kumite event, Faizal Zainuddin in the men’s individual kata, Flenty Enoch in the women’s individual kata, Christo Mondolu in the men’s individual 75-kilogram class kumite, Yulizar Usia Motuty in the men’s individual 67-kilogram class kumite, Donny Dharmawan in the men’s individual 60-kilogram class kumite and Dyah Puspitasari in the women’s individual 55-kilogram class kumite.

The field of 105 fighters at the event included 41 Indonesians.

The championship serves as a final test to determine the 22-fighter lineup for November’s SEA Games, where Indonesia expects its men’s team to deliver seven of the 17 gold medals at stake in the discipline.

“The results of this event and last month’s Kyiv Open in Ukraine will be our main criteria for the SEA Games roster,” Indonesian Karate Federation (FORKI) chairman Hendardji Supandji said Thursday.

In Ukraine, Indonesian karatekas won four gold, one silver and seven bronze medals. “Umar and Donny, for example, were gold medalists at both championships. They are our aces in the squad,” Hendardji said.

Umar Syarief, whose appearance in the biennial Games in November will be his last, warned his teammates against being “too content with the good results here” and to “stay committed in our preparations for the Games”.

Hendardji said that after the Indonesian Open, the Games squad will continue their training, including a boot camp in Tokyo in early July. The squad is also expected to field its lineup for the Games at international tourneys in Guangzhou (Asian Karate Federation Senior Championship from July 16-25), Istanbul (the World Karate Federation Premier League in mid September) and at the German Open in September.

Malaysia and Vietnam are seen as Indonesia’s biggest Games threats in the discipline. Malaysia won five gold medals at the 2009 SEA Games in Vientiane, while Indonesia only captured three. Vietnam took one gold medal at last year’s Guangzhou Asian Games.

While acknowledging the Indonesian team’s progress prior to the Games, Malaysian team coach Arivalagan Ponniyah expressed confidence that Malaysia would also be able to bring home six gold medals from the Games.

“We are very confident with our very strong women’s kumite squad. I’m sure they will deliver six gold medals for us: four from the women’s and two from the men’s events,” he said.