A

lthough winning a medal at the Olympics remains a far-off dream for Indonesia’s star rowers, their national coach says that the country needs to reach the upcoming London Games in order to prove that it belongs in the top echelon of the sport.

“Contributing a medal at the Olympics is still too far for us. But we can at least be part of the upcoming Games to elevate our overall performance,” national coach for rowing Dede Rohmat Nurjaya told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Toward that goal, the Indonesian Rowing Association (PODSI) launched a national training camp on Jan. 9 in the highland area of Pengalengan in West Java.

The nation’s best 12 rowers — including 26th Southeast Asian Games gold medalists Irham and Yakin Muhad — have been preparing at the camp for the Asian Continental Olympic Qualification Regatta which will be held in Chungju, South Korea, from April 26-29.

“We will pick three men and three women, and maybe two substitutes, for the continental qualification. The Chungju event will be Indonesia’s last chance to reach the London Games,” Dede said.

At the Chungju event, Indonesia will take part in the men’s double scull, women’s double scull, men’s single scull and women’s single scull.

The top-three in men’s and women’s double scull, top-five in the women’s single scull, and top-six in the men’s single scull will qualify for the London Games.

“I see real potential for our men’s double scull team to win the Chungju regatta, with Japan and China the main challengers,” Dede said.

“In the next seven weeks, the 12 athletes will undergo individual training. Afterward, we will evaluate them to determine which athlete will compete in which event,” he added.

Besides the Chungju event, international rowing federation FISA will stage the Lucerne event in Switzerland as the final qualification regatta in June.

PODSI deputy chief for sport development Budiman Setiawan said that he expected Indonesia’s rowers to perform well in the continental qualification.

“We really hope that our athletes will give their best in the qualification event. We expect, at least, one spot for the Games,” he said, adding that Indonesia had a chance of qualifying for four rowing events at the Olympic.

In Asia, Indonesia stands slightly lower than China and Japan, said Budiman.

Despite this, Budiman said he was confident that Indonesia could qualify to reach the Games.

Indonesia has been participating in the Olympics qualification since 1996.

The country qualified for the women’s single scull event at Athens 2004 by grabbing the number three rank in Asia. During the Athens Games, Pere Koroba finished in 16th of a total of 24 participants in the women’s single scull.