Interview with Eri Marina Yo (Indonesia) - winner of AIC-1 21 km women's race. - Congratulations on winning inaugural AIC race. How does it feel to be a winner of first ever race of Asianic Inline Cup? - First of all, big thank you to all AIC organizers and Bill and Cheryl Begg. I feel so happy being the winner; especially this is the first Asianic Inline Cup. I hope there will be more girls from other countries, more fun, more excitement and we will be able to see how is our skating progress, not only between Singapore and Indonesia (because of only 7 participants : 1 from Indonesia, 1 from USA and 5 from Singapore). Skaters from other countries must be improving and I don't want to be arrogant because of yesterday's result. I am sure there are many female skaters much stronger than me. - It was obvious that you were much stronger than opponents. You could take it easy and win it at the end. But you have decided to go solo very early in the race. Why did you do it? - At the beginning I was planning to stay in the group and break away few laps from the finish. However, I also wanted to test my speed, to see how far I could break away from them. When I saw it was quite a big gap, I decided to go alone at my own speed all the way. Maybe it was a bit boring but I have made effort to push hard and overlap all skaters. I also had chance to practice right cross-overs which I cannot do well. - Did you enjoy watching men's race? Everybody thought it was pretty exciting. - Of course! As most of them are on the same level and it was hard to predict who will be the winner. Daisuke is one of the fastest in Japan, Tiger Kim - a very good Korean skater and the boys from India - wow! At only 13 years old, I can see that they were very fast when we tried out the track together on Friday. There are also the Italian skaters who are usually very good. But I did not imagine that Daniel Chew Wee (Singapore) would win it. He is great, congrats man, two thumbs up! Still trying to imagine if I were in men's race ;) - How was the atmosphere during AIC event? Did you manage to meet skaters from different countries? Any new friends? - Great atmosphere, everybody said Hi even though we have not met before. There are also Bill and Cheryl - very nice and kind people, they asked a lot about me and Indonesia. I talked to skaters from Singapore and to Daisuke because he plans to go to Indonesia. I did not have any chance to talk to the Italians yet, maybe later next week. I still have to study for my projects and lessons that I am missing because of this trip. - Please tell us more about yourself: how long you have been skating, how did you pick up this sport, is it a full time job or you doing it just for fun? - I started skating since 5 year old, now I am 21 so it has been 16 years! In 1993 I watched Holiday on Ice - Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck skating on ice during a figure skating show at Senayan, Jakarta. It got me interested in ice skating, but the ice rink was made only for that show, so there are no ice rinks in Jakarta yet. Alternatively I started to skate on quads. Out of a sudden, I became a professional speed skater in Indonesia with my parents and club's support. Until now, skating is still my main hobby, sometimes when I win races I receive bonus, but I do not get salary and have no sponsors. So I cannot consider skating as a full time job. I am still studying at college, majoring in Computer Science, hoping to graduate next year. I am also doing a freelance job as a web programmer to help out my parents. - Very little known about Indonesian speedskating. But we heard it's very big in Indonesia, with many teams supported by provincial government, big competitions with serious financial rewards for winners. Can you tell us more about speedskating in your home country? - In the early '90s, skating was very popular here (Indonesia). However, after Year 2000, it was on the downturn with many athletes quitting. Since last year the sport started to grow again, mostly in Java - with around 300 skaters, mostly kids. We have one main event - biggest National Games in Indonesia called PON (Pekan Olahraga National - National Sports Games) for all sports, with participants from 33 provinces. It takes place every 4 years, the last was in 2008. Every province wants to have their pride, so they support their athletes a lot financially. Unfortunately, the central committee of inline skating (called Porserosi) does not work hard to help Indonesian skaters to improve and do not send them to international events. It is a general problem with no funding and sponsorships. Each province thinks that it is the country's responsibility, so they are kind of step back. When Indonesian skaters go to overseas races, they pay from their own pockets. People cannot live only by skating (which is different from other countries). Actually there are many good skaters here, not just me, seriously ;) - That's a pity best Indonesian skaters are not racing in World Championships and Asian Championships because of some issues on federation level. But there are races like WIC - do you have any plans to compete against top foreign skaters? Bill Begg thinks you are up to it for sure. - I would really love to, it would even be better if there are sponsors who can support me because funding is a serious issue. But I am really really excited and would love to compete against other skaters from different countries! Hope the schedule would not clash with my college time. - What is your favorite type of race? Do you prefer sprints or longer distance? - Actually I skate sprint, specializing in 300m and 500m, but I want to improve in my long distance too. Eri in AIC-1. Photo by Lawrence Ang - You have switched to 110 mm wheels recently. How do you feel skating on it in AIC 1st stage on a tricky Tuas course with so many different turns? - I love 110mm in the corners, but for this AIC-1 Tuas track, I had difficulties on the right turn. I am not sure whether it is because of the 110mm wheels or I am just not used to the right turns. I will learn right-hand crossovers when I come back here. I will! ;) Overall, 110mm wheels are very fast both in the corners (left) and on the straights. - Do you have any team or you train alone? - My team at PON is Kalimantan Timur, but skaters come from different parts of Indonesia: 2 from Jakarta, 5 from Yogyakarta (Middle Java) and 3 from original Kal-Tim. My training partner got married after the championship, so I train alone now, with no coach :( Every Sunday morning, I train with other skaters from Jakarta. - Where do you usually train? Is it a lot of tracks in Indonesia? - On weekdays I usually train in Senayan, Jakarta 300m flat track, it is very rough and on Sunday mornings on Sudirman Road. There are not many good tracks in Indonesia. In Java, we only have 2 good tracks (Karawang West Java, Sidoarjo East Java) and 1 in Kalimantan Timur. The others are not up to standards and are very rough. - Is it your first visit to Singapore? How do you like it here? - No, this is my 5th visit to Singapore. I like it here because it is a very organized country, with good-mannered people and it is safe. It is very different from Indonesia :) I hope I can live here one day. - Speedskating in Singapore is not a major sport. What do you think about potential for local skaters to become a prominent force in international events? What do they need to do in order to improve - train more, better facilities, better equipment, more training, something else? - From what I see, skaters in Singapore already have very good equipment. However, they do not have the proper tracks where skaters can monitor their improvements before comparing with skaters from other countries. I do not know a lot about how the skaters train here but I heard from my friends that Singaporeans are always busy with studies or work (correct me if I am wrong). And because of that, they do not have enough time for intensive training. But I am sure no matter where are you from, if you want to train seriously and have desire to improve and win, you will be able to do it! - Many people from around the world will be reading this interview on the net. Do you want to say something to them? - I am really glad to be here, representing Indonesia in AIC 2009. These race series should help to improve Inline Skating in Asia and it make us more competitive against European and American skaters. I hope many Asian skaters will join the next stage, especially girls. Also with help of coaches like Bill and Cheryl Begg, we will show to the whole world what Asian skaters have. I won yesterday, but it does not mean I will definitely win tomorrow. I will continue to learn to be better from yesterday, working and praying always. Thanks again to Bill, Cheryl, and all AIC organizers. - Thank you very much, Eri, and good luck in AIC 2nd stage on the 7th of March. Back to Media