D

iah Permatasari has qualified for the Olympics, marking the first time Indonesia will send a lady fencer to the Games since Silvia Kristina made it to Seoul in 1998.

Indonesia’s list of qualifiers for the London Games was lengthened when Diah made it after snatching the third place in an Olympic qualification event in Wayakama, Japan, last week.

The Indonesian Fencing Association (IKASI) has said that it would not set a high target for Diah.

“Winning is our ultimate goal in every tournament. But getting into the top 16 [in London] will be a great achievement for us,” IKASI representative Hans Nayoan told tempo.co.

Hans said that Diah would participate in the Asia Under-23 championships in the Philippines in June and be groomed in a training camp in China before heading to London.

In archery, Ika Yuliana Rochmawati qualified for the Olympics in the women’s recurve individual after winning a gold medal in the Asian Olympic qualifier in Tehran, Iran, last October.

To bolster its archery squad, Indonesia may send two additional competitors to the Final Qualification for Archery in the US in June.

Although Indonesia has secured 17 quota places, the nation will need a lot of luck to get five more spots in swimming and judo to compete in London.

Indonesia sent 24 athletes to both the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Now, the nation plans to send 50 athletes to London in hopes of doubling its medal chances.

However, with only 80 days before the London Games begin, only 17 solid spots have been secured: six spots for weight lifting, nine places for badminton, one for archery and one for fencing.

In swimming, four Indonesian swimmers earned “B” qualifications for the Olympics, but will need to perform well in several qualifiers in June to reach the “A” level before earning a London berth.

The Indonesian Gold Program (PRIMA), sponsored by the government, expects that judoka Putu Wiradamungga Adesta in men’s-81 kilogram category could qualify for the Olympics, but PRIMA is still waiting for a final announcement from the International Judo Federation on May 10 on several judoka including Putu.

“Until then, we are still counting him in,” PRIMA chief Aslizar Tanjung told reporters in Jakarta on Monday claiming that Indonesia had secured 22 Olympic spots in London.

A member of Aslizar’s staff, Andri, said that Putu still had a chance to go to London.

“After participating in a recent qualifying event, we need to wait the final scoring from it to know if he [Putu] qualifies for London,” Andri said, referring to the final qualifier for Asia in Uzbekistan from April 26 to 29.

“As for swimming, we can say that it’s actually not safe yet, because the total quota in swimming is 900,”
Andri said.

“The swimmers need to work really hard to get to the ‘A’ qualification level in order to avoid elimination. “We think that Glenn Victor [Sutanto] has the most chance to reach the qualification A standard,” he said, referring to Glenn personal best at 54.38 seconds in the men’s 100-meter butterfly.

The Indonesian team, comprising Glenn Victor S. and Indra Gunawan in the 100-meter breaststroke, Triadi Fauzi in the 200-meter butterfly, and I Gede Siman Sudartawa in the 100-meter backstroke and 200-meter backstroke, is scheduled to partake in five qualifiers in Singapore, Malaysia, Portugal and Italy before mid-June.

There was better news for Indonesia’s badminton squad. Soon after the latest world rankings were announced by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on May 3, the Indonesia Badminton Federation (PBSI) decided to send to London world No. 3 Tontowi Ahmad-Liliyana Natsir in mixed doubles, world No. 9 Simon Santoso and world No. 12 Taufik Hidayat in men’s singles, world No. 6 Mohammad Ahsan-Bona Septano in men’s doubles, and world No. 9 Greysia Polii-Meiliana Jauhari.

The BWF world rankings are used as a standard to decide the number of players to send to the Olympics.

“At this time, Tontowi and Liliyana are still our best. It is a must for them to win the Olympics,” national head coach for doubles Christian Hadinata told the The Jakarta Post recently.

“The real war in Olympics is for the shuttlers’ mentality. Those who have the strongest mentality will win,” added the three-time All England champ in men’s doubles and mixed doubles.

As a nation with shuttlers ranked from world number five to 39, Indonesia deserves a wild card spot in the women’s single division, but the PBSI will later decide on whether to send either world No. 34 Maria Febe Kusumastuti or world No. 36 Adrianti Firdasari to London.

Like shuttlers, weight lifters are one of Indonesia’s strong suits, and five slots in the men’s division and one ticket in the women’s division have been secured for London.

However, the lifters are still uncertain on who will be sent to London.

“We will pick names later on. First, we will send some lifters for a training camp in China by the middle of this month, then we will also hold an evaluation of all potential lifters across the country in June to make the selection. We will definitely send the best ones,” national coach Lukman told the Post recently.

However, based on performance in the last few months, the possible names are Jadi Setiadi (56-kilo grams), Eko Yuli Irawan (62-kg), M. Hasbi (62-kg), Triyatno (69-kg) and Deni (69-kg) in men’s team. On the women’s side, the country has not decided on a possible lifter yet.

Indonesia is also seeking more Olympic berths in athletics, rowing and women’s boxing.