Asiad flop shows Indonesia's need for major sport reforms<\/p>\n
A modest ending in the Asian Games in Hiroshima depicts a
\nlikely major setback in national sports development, but some
\nsporting fields did make encouraging progress. The Jakarta Post
\nsports reporters Arief Suryobuwono, Dwiatmanta and Robert
\nSoelistyo take a close look at this issue in the following
\nstories.<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Asian Games in Hiroshima were just another
\nsports ground proving that Indonesia has yet to gain ground in
\nthe international sports scene, except, of course, for badminton.<\/p>\n
A few months after the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup memorable
\ndouble, badminton salvaged Indonesia's pride in the 12th Asiad in
\nOctober. But the national shuttlers' three gold medals, the only
\ngolds scooped by the 150-strong Indonesian team, failed to live
\nup to expectations to finish even among top ten in the Oct. 2-16
\nsports meet.<\/p>\n
For the first time in Indonesia's 30-year affiliation with
\nAsiad, the national squad lay at 11th place with a paltry
\ncollection of three gold, 12 silver and 11 bronze medals. It was
\nmore than an upset ending since Malaysia, which has never come
\nclose to dethroning Indonesia in the Southeast Asian (SEA) level,
\nmanaged to finish two spots ahead.<\/p>\n
The strongest sport powerhouse, China, doused the fires of
\nother Asian countries with a haul of 137 gold, 92 silver and 60
\nbronze medals. But their supremacy was tainted by the most
\nflagrant use of drugs. China's seven swimmers, a hammer thrower,
\na cyclist and two canoeists all tested positive for the same
\nsteroid.<\/p>\n
The drug scandal handed host Japan six golds, to surpass
\nprevious second finisher, South Korea.<\/p>\n
Such a modest feat in Asiad put the national sport council in
\nhot water. Critics said the council was inconsistent in picking
\nsports with great potential to win medals at the quadrennial
\nevent.<\/p>\n
Taking part in 23 events, Indonesia could not manage any
\nmedals in 17 sports, including those which offered a bucketful of
\nmedals such as swimming and track and field.<\/p>\n
Needless to say Indonesia's triumphant Thomas Cup team was too
\nmuch for the rest of the Asian badminton playing countries. Joko
\nSuprianto and company capped their perfect run by thrashing South
\nKorea 5-0 in the men's team final.<\/p>\n
Susi Susanti won her game, but it looked meaningless when the
\nSouth Korean women's team capitalized on the lack of self-
\nconfidence in their Indonesian rivals for a 4-1 final win.<\/p>\n
All England men's singles title holder Hariyanto Arbi secured
\nIndonesia's second gold after beating compatriot Joko, before
\nworld men's doubles number one Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky
\ntook the other top honor.<\/p>\n
Susi, however, spoiled the celebration. An upset loss to
\nJapan's Hizako Mitsui made the Asian Games gold medal the only
\nlaurel Susi has not won.<\/p>\n
Back on the national scene boxing made a bid for sweetening
\nover the bitter conditions in other events.<\/p>\n
Romping home with four gold medals in the President's Cup
\nAmateur International Championships was good enough for the
\nIndonesian boxers, which enabled them to reclaim the overall
\ntitle it won in 1976, the inauguration of the annual tournament.<\/p>\n
The four golds came from Pino Bahari, who won the middleweight
\ndivision title, Nemo Bahari (featherweight), Nelson Oil
\n(flyweight) and Hermensen Ballo (light flyweight).<\/p>\n
Dope<\/p>\n
Doping scandals which have been tainting sports the world
\nover, also hit Indonesia when young West Java swimmer Catherine
\nSurya, woman cyclist Alvi Dwiningrum, male cyclists Ronny Yahya,
\nDadang Haris and M. Basri all from Yogyakarta, were found guilty
\nof using steroids during the National Sports Games (PON).<\/p>\n
At the PON in Jakarta, 1993, Catherine swept seven gold and
\ntwo silver medals. The National Sports Council only announced the
\nfindings of testing early this year.<\/p>\n
The findings mean shame for Indonesia but at the same time we
\nhave to accept the ugly reality that some of our top athletes are
\nbeing disqualified because of their use of prohibited performance
\nenhancing substances.<\/p>\n
Tennis<\/p>\n
Forget the end of Indonesia's long-tradition of winning Asiad
\ntennis gold medals at Hiroshima.<\/p>\n
Tennis enthusiasts could at least smile as they spotted world-
\nclass players hanging around here. They are offered a more
\nenticing New Year package in early January with the arrival of
\ntennis great Martina Navratilova, and other world championship
\nplayers, for the two-week Indonesian Women's Open and Men's Open
\ntennis gala show.<\/p>\n
Michael Chang's second straight win at the Indonesia Men's
\nOpen in February this year served as the appetizer for a year of
\ntennis extravaganza.<\/p>\n
The beauty of Gabriela Sabatini captivated the public's
\nattention in mid-September when the Argentinean played Yayuk
\nBasuki in two exhibition matches at the fully-packed Kemayoran
\ntennis center. They tied at 1-1.<\/p>\n
A week later, Switzerland's Marc Rosset and Jakob Hlasek
\ndelighted local fans with a 4-1 overpowering of Benny Wijaya and
\ncompany in their Davis Cup battle at the Senayan tennis stadium.<\/p>\n
To cap off the long tennis agenda, the stadium staged the
\nUS$1.3 million ATP World Doubles finals, the most lucrative
\nchampionships ever held here.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, lackluster promotion, and to some extent the
\ncostly ticket prices, left the world's eight best teams grumbling
\nabout the small number of attending spectators.<\/p>\n
Sweden's Davis Cup heroes Jan Apell and Jonas Bjorkman turned
\nthe tables. Their final five-set victory over Australia's Todd
\nWoodbridge and Mark Woodforde was as illustrious as their
\ndeciding win in Sweden's 4-1 win over host Russia in the Davis
\nCup final early this month.<\/p>\n
Basketball<\/p>\n
This year marked the revival of the National Basketball League
\nwhich, for the first time in its 12-year history, featured
\nimported players.<\/p>\n
The foreign cagers, most of whom are American, proved
\neffective in luring a large number of spectators. Sold out and
\nfilled-beyond-capacity halls served as a bait for more
\nsponsorship and proved that \"the cage sport\" is now as saleable
\nas tennis or soccer.<\/p>\n
\"Now sponsors must count us in,\" Yaksono Soerodjo, the
\nleague's chairman, said. Lack of sponsors cost the league some
\nyears of slumber in the past.<\/p>\n
The new mood of enthusiasm climaxed when Bandung's Hadtex
\nturned the tables with a dramatic 57-54 win over defending
\nchampion Aspac of Jakarta to capture the honors.<\/p>\n
Aspac had been the former favorite for its unbeaten record
\nafter three months of round-robin competition which pitted 11
\nclubs.<\/p>\n
Yaksono said the league will keep letting its teams hire
\nimported cagers \"until the public eventually values our local
\ncagers the same way they value imported cagers.\"<\/p>\n
As of next year a women's basketball league and National
\nBasketball Day on Oct. 23, when the national basketball league
\nwas founded, will be introduced, but the league's existing format
\nwill be maintained, Yaksono said.<\/p>\n
Soccer<\/p>\n
National soccer carved out another milestone this year when
\nthe All Indonesia Football Association set out a new league which
\nunifies semi-professional clubs and amateur teams.<\/p>\n
The league, officially named Liga Dunhill, after the cigarette
\ncompany Dunhill which provided US$2 million of sponsorship, was
\nofficially opened by Vice President Try Sutrisno on Nov. 27.<\/p>\n
The premier division league comprises of 17 clubs, which
\nformerly joined the semi-professional league and 17 amateur
\nsquads, previously belonging to the intercity league. They are
\nsplit into the East and West divisions and feature a total of 599
\nmatches in 28 cities throughout Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Commenting on the controversy over the obvious different
\nstatus among the clubs, the football association's chairman Azwar
\nAnas said that \"the league must, at any rate, run first\", hoping
\nthat the amateur teams will gradually turn pro.<\/p>\n
A month after the kick-off, the professional squads have taken
\nthe lead over their amateur rivals, although the latter managed
\nsome surprising wins.<\/p>\n
To add zest to the newly launched league, the inclusion of
\nimported booters within competing teams was revived. The policy
\nwas introduced in 1979 by the former football association's
\nchairman, and Jakarta governor, Ali Sadikin. The football
\nassociation banned them in the late 1980s, saying they adversely
\naffected the local talent.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, hooliganism tainted the league. The association
\nbanned, on Dec. 20, Indra Kurniawan of Persiba Balikpapan and
\nMusfadil of Pupuk Kaltim for two years each for brawling during
\ntheir Nov. 27 game in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan.<\/p>\n
In Gresik, East Java, hundreds of spectators caused a mass
\nbrawl after their home team fell 0-2 to visiting Barito Putra.<\/p>\n
This year also saw how the football association suffered a
\nbitter slap when its junior team, trained by Sampdoria in Italy
\nfor the association's ambitious target of entering the 2002 World
\nCup finals, crashed out of the 29th Asian Under-19 Championship
\nfinals in September, following a 0-4 humiliation by eventual
\nchampion Syria.<\/p>\n
However, a month later a modest under-15 soccer team gave
\nconsolation. They won the 23rd Asian student soccer championship
\nby beating strong team China 2-0 on Oct. 30.<\/p>\n
The demise of national soccer great Soetjipto Soentoro, aged
\n53, on Nov. 12 was another bitter blow for Indonesian soccer.<\/p>\n
Chess<\/p>\n
To Indonesia was born this year a new grand master, Edhi
\nHandoko, and two new international masters, Nathanael Situru and
\nSalor Sitanggang.<\/p>\n
The three chess wizards were in an Utut Adianto-led team which
\ngave Indonesia an encouraging year-end prize. They finished 28th
\nafter two weeks of struggling at the 124-field Olympics of Chess
\nin Moscow, 12 places better than their previous standing.<\/p>\n
In contrast, the women's team dropped from 18 to 24, out of 81
\ncountries.<\/p>\n
At any rate, this was a good result, given that Indonesia had
\nto compete against at least 14 powerful teams originating from
\nformer Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.<\/p>\n
A draw with China's women's world champion GM Xu Jun in the
\nfinal round of the international meet here in April gave Edhi the
\neight points he needed to take the title he had been dreaming of
\nfor 12 years. Edhi's elo rating increased to 2,510.<\/p>\n
Indonesia now has four Grand Masters including Herman
\nSuradiraja (2,300), Ardiansyah (2,425) and Indonesia number one
\nUtut (2,590).<\/p>\n
This year also saw how Utut, in a bid to become the first
\nIndonesian to reach an elo rating of 2,600, challenged and fell
\n1-3 to American Grand Master Yasser Seirawan in a duel match
\nsanctioned by the world chess body FIDE in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Bridge<\/p>\n
The year was rosy for Indonesian bridge. Indonesia beat
\ndefending champion The Netherlands 133-116 in the Bridge Olympics
\nin Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A., on Sept. 25 and had its world
\nstanding rocket from 64th to ninth.<\/p>\n
In the U.S. Cup Open Foursome, another tournament held in
\nAlbuquerque in the same month, Indonesia finished second behind
\nthe U.S., and a month later the veteran pair of Hengky Lasut and
\nEddy Manoppo won the Open Pair title of the 16th Association of
\nSoutheast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Interclub Bridge Championships in
\nGenting Highland, Malaysia.<\/p>\n
Encouraged, the Indonesian Bridge Association hired world-
\nclass Canadian coach Erick Kokish at a cost of US$80,000 for a
\ntwo-week stint from Dec. 7-21 to prepare the promising team for
\nthe Far East Bridge Federation Championship in Perth, Australia,
\nnext year.<\/p>\n
Winning the Far East zone bridge championship will earn
\nIndonesia a place in the Bermuda Bowl World Bridge Open Pair
\nChampionship in Beijing, China, in October next year.<\/p>\n
Automotive<\/p>\n
The Rally of Indonesia in Medan, North Sumatra, in June
\nhighlighted automotive sports for both its world-class entrants
\nand challenging ground.<\/p>\n
Sweden's pair, Kenneth Eriksson and Staffan Parmander, won the
\nrace, which was the opening leg of the Asia Pacific Rally
\nChampionships series, after three days of grueling rivalry
\nagainst New Zealand's defending champion team of Possum Bourne
\nand Tony Sircombe.<\/p>\n
Overseas rallyists prevailed over the 400-kilometer rally, but
\nfour local drivers managed to preserve Indonesia's honor by
\nfinishing in the top 10. Only 25 cars, out of the original 48
\nflagged off, reached the finish.<\/p>\n
Foreigners also stood head and shoulder against local talents
\nin the motocross championships series this year, while Indonesia
\nis bidding a world championship race next year.<\/p>",
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