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Swimming team looks to retain 6 golds
Indonesiaâs favorite disciplines have been cut from the swimming competition at the upcoming Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), but the national team has said that it will stick to its target of retaining six-gold medals in the pool
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ndonesia's favorite disciplines have been cut from the swimming competition at the upcoming Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), but the national team has said that it will stick to its target of retaining six-gold medals in the pool.
The host country Myanmar has decided to eliminate the 50-meter men's and women's breaststroke, butterfly and backstroke events, which reduces the number of gold medals available from 38 at the 26th SEA Games in Indonesia in 2011 to only 32.
Out of the six gold medals Indonesian swimmers won in 2011, I Gede Siman Sudartawa and Indra Gunawan contributed a gold medal each in the 50-meter backstroke and 50-meter breaststroke, respectively.
'It doesn't matter if the host country has decided to eliminate some swimming events. We maintain our target of six gold medals,' coach Albert C. Susanto said in a phone interview on Monday.
He said he had high expectations for Siman, who delivered four medals in 2011. 'We expect him to grab gold in the 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke, 4x100 relay; another two from Triady Fauzi in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle, and another one from either the 100-meter, 200-meter breaststroke or the 200-meter, 100-meter butterfly, where we have a 50-50 chance of winning.'
Indonesia's tally of six-gold medals placed the Indonesian swimming team in third position behind Singapore and Thailand, which took 17 and eight gold medals, respectively.
For Myanmar, which will host the multi-event sporting showcase from Dec. 11 to 22, the national swimming team includes 12 men and 12 women, who are training in several different places.
They will join a training camp at Seruni Hotel in Cisarua, Bogor, beginning on Wednesday to Dec. 7, which is the last phase of their preparation.
Albert complained about insufficient equipment for training.
'For the national level, we are lacking proper training equipment, such as underwater cameras that can be used to assess the athletes' techniques; lactate analyzer equipment and many others. We don't even have our own swimming pool and it forces us to rent pools for training,' he said.
'If we had proper training equipment we would set a double digit medal target,' he added.
He expected that the new management of the Indonesian Swimming Federation (PRSI) would be aware of the issue and help improve the current state of the national swimming team.
According to the newly installed PRSI chairman, businessman Sandiaga Uno, he realized the problem facing the national swimming team and that his organization would try its best not let it hamper the swimmers' possible achievements.
'We are trying to engage with some sponsors and donators to overcome the problem,' he said.
The Myanmar SEA Games will feature 33 sports compared to 44 sports in Indonesia.
Sports and Youth Minister Roy Suryo previously said that he expected the contingent to win 140 gold medals.
