Indonesia rugby gets promotion

JAKARTA: Indonesian rugby has been promoted to play in the higher a5n Division 3 Championship, the Indonesian Rugby Football Union said Monday.

Indonesia has earned the promotion thanks to its undefeated streak in the Jakarta a5n regional tournament earlier this year, it said in a statement sent to the Jakarta Post.

Indonesia beat Laos 23-11 and Cambodia 55-3 to win the tournament.

In the 2009 season of the a5n division 3 competition, Indonesia will play the Philippines, Kryghistan and Guam.

Sumber : www.thejakartapost.com

Lombok awaits international triathlon

Selaparang Airport on the resort island of Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara, looked unusually hectic this weekend as it welcomed a score of tourists who mostly carried big boxes of luggage.

Those tourists were not ordinary vacationers. They have come to Bali's sister island to compete in the country's last triathlon event of the year, the 2008 Emaar Lombok International Triathlon.

More than 300 local triathletes and around 120 foreign triathletes are expected to take part in the annual race comprising three classic sports: 1.8 kilometers swimming, 55 kilometers cycling and 12 kilometers running at Senggigi Beach on Sunday.

"We wish success to the second round of the event even though we saw several cancellations recently," Nathalie Marquet of the event organizers, Tribob.com, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

She alluded to cancellations partly due to fears among tourists of possible retaliatory attacks against the plans to execute the Bali I bombing trio.

"Compared to the Bintan triathlon in which more than 1,500 people participated, this Lombok triathlon is smaller. We've just begun the race last year starting from scratch. But, it has big potential to become one of premier triathlon events in the near future," she added.

A pristine beach and nice scenery along the running track are among the attractions of the event.

"This triathlon is the smallest, but I think this is also the toughest, especially the running track, which is quite steep," said Mark Clay, an expatriate, who works for a foreign company in Jakarta.

The triathletes will take two laps of 900 meters in the first swimming stage before taking on the 55-kilometer cycling course which includes a six-kilometer ascent of Mount Pusuk and a ride through the lush Monkey Forest. The last 12-kilometer running stage zipping through the hilly coastal road will provide sea views to the exhausted athletes.

The organizers reversed the route from the initial 2007 track in order to raise the challenge by placing the hardest part at the end of the race.

"Anyway, it is fun race. I also joined last year's race," the Englishman Clay told the Post.

The organizers said in a statement that 82 percent of the Lombok triathletes are professionals, managers, executives and entrepreneurs.

"Like what happened last year, there are some companies who field their teams to join the triathlon as a team event -- similar to a relay event," Marquet told the Post.

"Perhaps, they found that this event is beneficial to help build solid teams to achieve higher goals in their companies," she added.

However, she said the winning team will receive different prizes from the regular triathlon winners since they compete as teams and not as individual triathletes.

Marquet added that the sport has also been growing fast in the Asian region, with available figures showing that more people were joining triathlon competitions.

In the 2008 Lombok contest, Juie Shetye, 22, from Mumbai, India will be the youngest in the list, while evergreen Patsy Yap, 65, of Malaysia will be the oldest contender. The 2007 Lombok triathlon runner-up Sebastien Calle also returns to the competition with renewed vigor to try to win the first place.

Sumber : www.thejakartapost.com

England's Easson rules Lombok triathlon

Triathlete James Easson of England survived three tough races on the Senggigi coast in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, to win the 2008 Emaar Lombok International Triathlon on Sunday.

Easson completed a 1.8-kilometer swim, 55-kilometer bicycle ride and 12-kilometer run in 3 hours and 24 minutes, to come out ahead of the pack of around 300 triathletes in the triathlon's second ever running.

"Swimming is the toughest part of the race. The cycling course is also tough, with hilly roads and steep turns to beat," the 28-year-old told reporters during the post-race medal ceremony.

The victory was Easson's first in his three-year triathlon career.

Australia's Michael Outhred came second in a time of 3 hours and 27 minutes, while home favorite and last year's runner-up Mohammad Kadri settled for third place with 3 hours and 30 minutes.

Kadri also took home the winner's purse of Rp 5 million out of the total Rp 12.5 million on offer to local competitors.

The competition, which looked more like a fun run than a professional contest, saw many amateurs bringing up the rear with a big time difference. The last triathletes took more than five hours to complete the race.

"The essence of this event is not about winning the race, but about taking part. That's why we don't have a cut-off time for participants to complete the entire race," said race director Matte Vijverberg from event organizer Tribob.com.

Natalie Marquet, a Tribob.com executive, said she hoped the Lombok triathlon would become one of the biggest triathlon events in the region.

"With a bigger number of participants in future events, we can start inviting professional triathletes and the country's top triathletes to help spice up the competition," Marquet said.

"There will be higher cash prizes up for grabs," she added.

West Nusa Tenggara Governor Zaenal Majedi, who officiated the race, praised the event's ability to draw in many foreign tourists.

"This race should be made an annual event because it helps promote tourism here," he said.

Lombok, known for its pristine beaches and exotic scenery, lies close to the world-renowned resort island of Bali. But the absence of international flights and infrequent domestic flights to the local Selaparang Airport has kept this resort island off the tourist radar.

Earlier, the race organizers said some competitors could not make it to the race because of problems in scheduling flights.

"Yes, we've heard many triathletes couldn't come due to flight problems. We will follow up on this immediately," said the newly elected governor.

"We are now finalizing negotiations with some airlines to up their frequency of flights to Selaparang Airport as part of our efforts to boost tourism."

Maureen Ferry Cuellar, assistant director of development for main sponsor Emaar Properties, announced her company would continue sponsoring the event in coming years.

"This is just the beginning, since we have a number of activities and projects here," Cuellar said at a press briefing.

Under the Lombok Project, the Dubai-based property giant plans to build a premium resort and residential complex in Central Lombok spanning more than 1,200 hectares.

Sumber : www.thejakartapost.com

Indonesian dispatches team to Chess Olympiad

Indonesia's chess contingent will take part in the Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany, with hopes high of maintaining the performance the team showed in the last Olympiad two years ago.

Indonesia finished in 40th place in both the open and women's division in 2006 in Turin, with the men's team spearheaded by the country's No. 1, Grandmaster Utut Adianto.

In Dresden, where the world's biggest chess competition will be played in a new format, Indonesia looks content to maintain its previous position, although it does not rule out a possible rise in the standings.

"All 15 former Soviet countries must be above us. Ten western European countries and ten eastern European countries must also be better than us," Utut said at press conference Sunday in Jakarta.

"We also have fellow Asians China, India and Vietnam, who are the teams to beat. Therefore to finish in 40th place will be a good achievement.

"But we harbor optimism of improving our ranking."

Utut will not join the team this time around, leaving the "striking role" of the team to 22-year-old Susanto Megaranto.

The team members attended the media conference before departing on Monday for Germany.

The competition, which features open and women's teams from 154 countries, will be played in 11 rounds -- a change from previous editions. The 2006 Olympiad was played in 13 rounds, while those held before 2006 featured 14 rounds.

The number of players has also changed. Each team used to have six players in the open and four players in the women's division, but are now allowed five -- four starters and one reserve -- in each division.

Indonesia's open team, led by captain Edhi Handoko, comprises Susanto, Irwanto Sadikin, Tirta Chandra, Johanes Simbolon and Farid Firmansyah.

Sebastian Simanjuntak heads the women's team, which consists of Irene Kharisma Sukandar, Evi Lindiawati, Kadek Iin Dwijayanti, Desi Rachmawati and Dewi Citra.

Susanto will try to build on his achievement in 2004, when he stunned some of the world's top grandmasters en route to attaining a grandmaster (GM) rating.

Susanto acknowledged it was his best run to date. He tops the team's list for most Olympiad appearances, having played in 2002, 2004 and 2006.

On the other hand, it will be the first Olympiad for Johanes, who won a place on the team following his impressive performance during the recent National Games.

"We have worked intensively on the opening repertoire. I guess we are well prepared for the competition," said the 41-year-old Johanes.

Sumber :www.thejakartapost.com

More entries at stake at Ancol bowl

JAKARTA: Around 250 bowlers from 13 countries are taking part in the inaugural Ancol International Open Tenpin Bowling Championship at the Ancol Bowling Lane in North Jakarta.

The 10-day championship, which features a total of 17 events beginning Nov. 6, will pick the top 16 men and 16 women bowlers for the ABF Tour of Jakarta series, a statement said Monday.

The Jakarta series is the last leg in the tour which will decide a shortlist of players eligible for the Tournament of Champions, which will take place in Jakarta in January.

The Indonesian team is spearheaded by Asian Games gold medalist Ryan Lalisang in the men's category and Putty Armein in the women's.

"We expect tough competition among the players in their efforts to improve their Asian rankings," Oky Harnowo, chairman of the organizing committee, said.

Sumber : www.thejakartapost.com

Bali to host world junior wushu event

JAKARTA: Bali will host the world junior wushu championships next month with Indonesia looking to shape up for international competitions beyond.

The organizers are expecting athletes from 54 countries to participate in the event, which will run from Dec. 7 to 14. Medals will be offered in 22 events, according to a press release on Monday.

"There will be more participants in Bali than they had in Beijing two years ago when only 40 countries took part," IGK Manila, chairman of the organizing committee, said.

"Hopefully the event will be a chance to rehearse ahead of the 2009 SEA (Southeast Asian) Games in Laos and 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou," he said.

According to deputy chairman of the Indonesian Wushu Association, Agus Susanto, Indonesia will field 8 sanshou and 11 taulo athletes. The sanshou athletes have been preparing in Surabaya since September, while the taulo group has made Medan their training camp, under the supervision of a Chinese coach.

The Surabaya camp has been working particularly on the athletes' stamina, which, according to Agus, has been their weak point.

"They already posses good skills, they just need to shape up physically. We see they have made significant improvement in Surabaya," he said.

sumber : www.thejakartapost.com