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AKARTA: Thirty six Indonesian karatekas started their national training program on Monday as early preparation for the 2012 world championships and the 2013 SEA Games in Myanmar.

The Indonesian Karate-Do Federation (Forki) said that the early training schedule was due to the team targeting another overall champions title in Myanmar.

“We have to start the program as early as we can because Myanmar will give tighter competition compared to what we had in [the 2011 Games in] Indonesia,” Forki chief Hendardji Supandji said during opening ceremony of the national training camp in Jakarta on Monday.

At the recent Games, Indonesia finished as the overall champion by winning 10 gold medals, two silver and four bronze — a laudable achievement from the seven gold medals targeted.

As part of the preparation, Indonesia will also host the first Jakarta series of the 2012 World Karate Federation (WKF) Premier League world championships on June 23-24 in Jakarta, with some 80 countries expected to send their athletes to the competition.

Besides Jakarta, the WKF has also appointed France (Jan. 14-15); the Netherlands (March 10-11); Istanbul, Turkey (Sept. 1-2); Frankfurt, Germany (Sept. 22-23); and Salzburg, Austria (Dec. 8-9) to hold the Premier League events.