Element of surprise from Hidayat?

17/11/1998

HIDAYAT Hamidon was expected to win the snatch gold at the Kuala Lumpur
Commonwealth Games but instead surprised all with a gold in the clean and
jerk, and a silver in the combined total.
At the Asian Games in Bangkok, Hidayat will again be banking on the
element of surprise when he lifts in the 69kg category.
But Hidayat, with his hallmark confident smile, will have to dig deep
into his reserves to even win a bronze.
"It would be great to win a medal in Bangkok because since Malaysia made
a debut at the 1954 Games until the 1994 Hiroshima Games, weightlifting
has only won one bronze medal," said Hidayat.
"And that was 40 years ago in Tokyo. It would be a feather in my cap to
lift a medal.
"For this I have put some extra hours in training."
The 22-year-old Hidayat is working harder than usual under Russian coach
Slava Lelikov. For a start, he has been put back on a strict diet
programme by Lelikov to shed the extra pounds gained during the break
after the KL Games.
"I visited visit my family in Indonesia during the break and ate a
little more than usual. But under the diet programme, it won't be long
before I'm back to my ideal weight."
Hidayat and Matin Guntali, who won three bronze medals at September's
Commonwealth Games, are the two weightlifters picked by the Olympic
Council of Malaysia (OCM) for Bangkok.
Hidayat will lift in the 69kg category and Matin in the 56kg.
At the recent World Championships at Lahti, Finland, China's Wan Jianhui
broke the International Weightlifting Federation's (IWF) standard by 0.5kg
with a snatch of 158kg in the 69kg.
Plamen Jeliazkov of Bulgaria went up to lift a world record of 160kg.
At the Asian Games, Hidayat will battle against lifters from China,
Korea, Japan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
"I will not put myself under any undue pressure and will lift for the
pure joy of lifting.
"Matin and I are in the right frame of mind and will treat the Asiad
with the same determination and spirit as the Commonwealth Games.
"Medals or not, we will surely try to crack national records."
(END)