Asiad decision upsets archery, bowling bodies<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Archery Association and the
\nIndonesian Bowling Association expressed disappointment yesterday
\nat the National Sports Council's decision not to choose their
\nsports to represent the country at the 13th Asian Games in
\nBangkok next December.<\/p>\n
The archery association's secretary-general, Edo Rahantoknam,
\nsaid the council should have given a reason why his
\norganization's proposal was rejected.<\/p>\n
\"We haven't received any letter from the council saying that
\nour proposal was rejected. We didn't know on what basis the
\ncouncil chose the 22 sports. They probably just considered our
\nbad performance recently,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The council announced Monday that it had chosen 22 sports in
\nwhich Indonesia would compete at the Asiad. They are track and
\nfield, badminton, boxing, canoeing, cycling, equestrian, fencing,
\nsoccer, gymnastics, judo, karate, rowing, sepak takraw, shooting,
\nswimming, tae kwon do, tennis, volleyball, weight lifting,
\nwrestling, wushu and yachting.<\/p>\n
The sports organizations will have to stage and finance their
\nown, decentralized, training for about 10 months before the
\ncouncil takes over three months prior to the start of the Games.<\/p>\n
Indonesian archers have performed poorly since reaching their
\npeak at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul the women's trio of
\nNurfitriyana, Lilies Handayani and Kusumawardhani won the silver
\nafter beating the U.S. team in a playoff.<\/p>\n
Indonesia only won one gold and three silvers in the 19th SEA
\nGames here last October. The result was worse than the 1995 Games
\nwhere national archers won two golds, one silver and two bronzes.<\/p>\n
Indonesia made a clean sweep of all four golds in the 1993
\nGames in Singapore.<\/p>\n
Edo said the association did not mention its target for the
\nAsiad due to the limited skills of its young archers.<\/p>\n
\"They are being prepared for the association's eight-year
\ntraining program. We can't push the young archers and expect them
\nto win medals at the event unless we have a miracle,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Edo said the council's rejection would likely influence the
\nassociation's plan to contract South Korean Lee Jae-hyung, who is
\nreputed to be the second best coach in his country, for at least
\none year.<\/p>\n
\"We plan to stage a centralized training, financed by the
\nassociation, under Lee's supervision as preparation for the
\nAsiad. But with the rejection, it seems the association has to
\nchange the plan,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The association has planned to groom 10 male and 10 female
\narchers for the Asiad.<\/p>\n
Edo declined to speculate whether he thought the archers would
\nstill have a chance to compete in the Asiad, saying that the
\nassociation will meet tomorrow to discuss its plan for next year.<\/p>\n
The council said that if sports which were not chosen could
\nshow their athletes' form was good enough during the 10-month
\nperiod, the council would reconsider their participation in the
\nquadrennial event.<\/p>\n
Bowling<\/p>\n
The bowling association's secretary-general, Abdul Rauf, said
\nthat he was disappointed with the decision but that the
\nassociation would continue with its training program.<\/p>\n
\"If we show good form during the 10-month period, I believe
\nthe council will consider our bowlers to compete at the event,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
\"Our target at the Asiad was to win the silver as we did in
\nthe 1994 Games in Hiroshima,\" he added.<\/p>\n
The association will select nine male and nine female bowlers
\nby the end of this month for its long-term training program for
\nthe Asiad.<\/p>\n
\"Of the 18 athletes, about 70 percent of them are less than 35
\nyears old,\" Abdul said.<\/p>\n
Twelve bowlers, six male and six female, will be selected to
\ncompete in the Asian Championships in Taipei in July as a warmup
\nfor the Asiad.<\/p>\n
Abdul said the association would finance the training and
\nwould also likely cooperate with the Cosmic bowling center in
\nPluit to provide free-of-charge practice facilities.<\/p>\n
He also said the association would send Gatot Ario Nugroho and
\nLily Suhaimi to compete at the Brunswick Asia Bowling
\nChampionship in Guangzhou, China, from Dec. 9 to Dec. 12. (yan)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/asiad-decision-upsets-archery-bowling-bodies-1447893297",
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