With few overseas competitions under its belt this year due to a lack of funding ahead of the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, Indonesia’s national karate squad is expected to get its last chance of a glimpse of their future opponents at the Austrian Open in Salzburg in October.
“The Austrian Open, [which runs from] Oct. 9-10 is our only opportunity to measure our fighters’ ability against opponents who employ the European-style of karate fighting,” national karate coach Omita Olga Ompi said Wednesday.
“We really need to adapt to this style because it is mostly used by the tough opponents from Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and former Soviet Union countries that we will encounter at the Asian Games,” she added.
Omita was speaking on the sidelines of a psychological test taken by eight national karate athletes who will participate at the Asian Games from Nov. 12-27, and 28 other fighters who are preparing for the Southeast Asian Games next year in Palembang and Jakarta.
According to Omita, who coaches kata (karate movements), most Indonesian karate fighters are more familiar with the Japanese-style of karate fighting, which is commonly featured in karate competitions around the region.
The national team, known as the karatekas, has attended only one try-out so far this year in their preparation for the quadrennial event, that one coming at the Korea Open in June.
At the tournament in Busan, South Korea, Indonesia’s Jintar Simanjuntak (men’s 67 kilogram class) and Yolanda Asmuruf (women’s 68 kilogram class) brought home two gold medals.
Both Jintar and Yolanda, as well as another highly experienced karateka, Umar Syarief (men’s over 84 kilogram class), who snatched the gold at the Laos SEA Games, are seen as having the most potential to bring home gold at the Asian Games. Meanwhile, women’s and men’s individual kata specialists Dewi Yulianti and Faisal Zainudin are expected to be silver medal candidates.
Gold medallist at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan and now national coach Hasan Basri, who specialized in the kumite (fighting) event, expressed similar hope.
“At the Korea Open, most of the other countries only sent their second-tier fighters, even Japan was not participating. So, up until now, we are still unable to figure out who will be our real opponents for the Asian Games and how strong they will be.”
Although Indonesia will soon host the Indonesia Open karate tournament in Bali, Hasan said the competition would not serve as adequate preparation for the country’s national squad to gear up for the Asian Games.
“Most of the other countries’ first tier fighters are focusing on the Austrian Open [Oct. 9-10] or the German Open [Oct. 18-19] to get acquainted with their future Asian Games rivals. Even Japan will not attend the Indonesia Open.”
Omita said his squad was currently applying for visas to visit Austria, although questions remain as to whether there is enough funding for the trip. Omita said she hoped PRIMA or the Indonesia Gold high performance athlete program would stick to its original plan of funding a second set of try-outs for the squad.
With few overseas competitions under its belt this year due to a lack of funding ahead of the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, Indonesia’s national karate squad is expected to get its last chance of a glimpse of their future opponents at the Austrian Open in Salzburg in October.
“The Austrian Open, [which runs from] Oct. 9-10 is our only opportunity to measure our fighters’ ability against opponents who employ the European-style of karate fighting,” national karate coach Omita Olga Ompi said Wednesday.
“We really need to adapt to this style because it is mostly used by the tough opponents from Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and former Soviet Union countries that we will encounter at the Asian Games,” she added.
Omita was speaking on the sidelines of a psychological test taken by eight national karate athletes who will participate at the Asian Games from Nov. 12-27, and 28 other fighters who are preparing for the Southeast Asian Games next year in Palembang and Jakarta.
According to Omita, who coaches kata (karate movements), most Indonesian karate fighters are more familiar with the Japanese-style of karate fighting, which is commonly featured in karate competitions around the region.
The national team, known as the karatekas, has attended only one try-out so far this year in their preparation for the quadrennial event, that one coming at the Korea Open in June.
At the tournament in Busan, South Korea, Indonesia’s Jintar Simanjuntak (men’s 67 kilogram class) and Yolanda Asmuruf (women’s 68 kilogram class) brought home two gold medals.
Both Jintar and Yolanda, as well as another highly experienced karateka, Umar Syarief (men’s over 84 kilogram class), who snatched the gold at the Laos SEA Games, are seen as having the most potential to bring home gold at the Asian Games. Meanwhile, women’s and men’s individual kata specialists Dewi Yulianti and Faisal Zainudin are expected to be silver medal candidates.
Gold medallist at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan and now national coach Hasan Basri, who specialized in the kumite (fighting) event, expressed similar hope.
“At the Korea Open, most of the other countries only sent their second-tier fighters, even Japan was not participating. So, up until now, we are still unable to figure out who will be our real opponents for the Asian Games and how strong they will be.”
Although Indonesia will soon host the Indonesia Open karate tournament in Bali, Hasan said the competition would not serve as adequate preparation for the country’s national squad to gear up for the Asian Games.
“Most of the other countries’ first tier fighters are focusing on the Austrian Open [Oct. 9-10] or the German Open [Oct. 18-19] to get acquainted with their future Asian Games rivals. Even Japan will not attend the Indonesia Open.”
Omita said his squad was currently applying for visas to visit Austria, although questions remain as to whether there is enough funding for the trip. Omita said she hoped PRIMA or the Indonesia Gold high performance athlete program would stick to its original plan of funding a second set of try-outs for the squad.
