Chinese Coach to Guide Indonesian Divers at SEA Games

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, May 27, 2003

Chinese Coach to Guide Indonesian Divers at SEA Games

The Indonesian aquatic sport authority has turned to China in an effort to improve the performance of its divers ahead of the upcoming Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, The Jakarta Post reported Tuesday.

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The Indonesian aquatic sport authority has turned to China in an effort to improve the performance of its divers ahead of the upcoming Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, The Jakarta Post reported Tuesday.

"China's (aquatic sport body) has informed us of the coach's name: Zhang Gyun. He will arrive here in August," Harly Ramayani, coach of the national team, was quoted as saying.

Eleven of its 12 divers, including Shenny Ratna Amelia, the gold medalist in the 10m platform at the 1999 SEA Games in Brunei Darussalam, were practicing.

Harly admitted she was not familiar with Zhang, but said she was confident about the coach's abilities not only because China was the powerhouse of the diving world, but also because Zhang wasrecommended by former national coach Zhong Shaozhen.

Zhong coached the Indonesian team from 1995 to 1997, during which Harly was the assistant coach. Harly said Zhong now was the Chinese national coach.

"I trust Zhong. She did a good job during our two-year partnership," Harly said.

In regards to Zhang's upcoming task, Harly said, "The divers have shown significant improvement since our training started early March, but I want them to be at their best.

"We expect Zhang to polish the divers' abilities. They still have to work on their entry into the pool."

An eight-strong squad is expected to be named at the end of June, after which the squad will have three overseas outings: the 10th FINA World Swimming Championship in Barcelona in July; the 22nd Universiade in Daegu, South Korea; and the Asian Age Group Championships in Macau, China in August.

The SEA Games will be held in Vietnam in December, where the Indonesian diving team will be pinning its medal hopes on Shenny while looking for another from the remaining squad members.

"We will not preoccupy ourselves with a target. We prefer to talk about prospects -- Shenny remains our best prospect. We hope she will take her 1999 winning run to Vietnam.

"We also have realistic hopes for another gold medal, either inthe men's event or the women's synchronized event," Harly said, adding that Malaysia and Thailand should be tough rivals at the SEA Games.

Indonesia's diving team hopefuls are: Rohmat, Ahmad Sukron Jamjani, Dennis Harimurti, Husaini Noor, M. Nasrullah and Sidik Agus for the men's team; Shenny Ratna Amelia, Sari Ambarwati, Herliani Dias, Treviani Dias, Dwi Lidia Sari and Della Dina Sari for the women's team.

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