RI joins world cheerleading competition

Seventeen Indonesian athletes will participate in the 6th World Cheerleading Competition at the Hong Kong Coliseum, Hong Kong, on Saturday and Sunday.

The team leader, Indonesian Cheerleading Community (ICC) president Oki Trihartomo, said that the team was ready to compete, despite a lack of support from the government.

“We are ready. We have held auditions since October 2010 and have established the team in April. We will keep training until a day before the competition,” he said as quoted by Antara news agency.

Oki said that most of the money used to fund training, costumes and flight tickets came from personal funds and sponsorship arrangements.

The Indonesian team will join the Cheer Mixed category and will be performing for 2.5 minutes. Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, the Philippines, Ecuador, Germany and Russia will also compete in the same category.

Oki said that the team was targeting a top nine finish.

“It will be better if we get to the big five,” he added.