Biennial Arafura Games still needs improvement<\/p>\n
DARWIN, Australia (JP): The eight-day biennial Arafura Games
\nare widely known by the host Northern Territorians as The Arafura
\nSports Festival.<\/p>\n
They call it this because its main aim is to build
\nrelationships and winning comes second.<\/p>\n
The Games cannot even be compared to the Southeast Asian (SEA)
\nGames.<\/p>\n
In The Arafura Games some sports are not observed by
\nrepresentatives of their international organizations.<\/p>\n
Tuesday's badminton team final was an example of this.<\/p>\n
Indonesia faced China's Haikou in an eight-match final.
\nOrganizers scheduled two men's and two women's finals, one men's
\ndoubles, one women's doubles and two mixed doubles.<\/p>\n
As soon as Indonesia led 5-1, Haikou preferred not to continue
\nthe match and gave a walkover win to Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Organizers allowed it because there were no International
\nBadminton Federation representatives.<\/p>\n
Since badminton is not a popular sport here, organizers could
\nnot provide many linesmen. The only way was to ask a player of
\neach competing country to be linesmen for other team.<\/p>\n
This system sometimes caused controversy. When Indonesian
\nwomen's doubles player Nonong DZ was the linesmen for compatriot
\nYuli Marfuah. Nonong called 'out' for Yuli's return backhand at
\nmatch point although it was in.<\/p>\n
Yuli could only grumbled to her senior after the match and
\nNonong could only say "Sorry, Yuli. I didn't mean it."<\/p>\n
The press also had trouble using the media center.<\/p>\n
The phone lines were only for local calls and international
\ncalls have to go through operators which caused problems for
\nreporters, who use modems to send their news.<\/p>\n
It is quicker to get results from each venue than from the
\nmedia center, which is in the Marrara Sports Complex about 20
\nkilometers out of the city.<\/p>\n
Reporters have trouble finding taxis or shuttle buses back to
\ntheir hotels after 9 p.m.<\/p>\n
In the SEA Games, athletes compete for one reason: to win many
\ngolds as possible.<\/p>\n
But in the Arafura Games, competitors represent clubs, cities,
\nprovinces or forces like The Australian Defense Forces, the New
\nZealand Air Force, the Haikou city, the Malaysian province of
\nSabah and others.<\/p>\n
They also aim to win, but it is not everything.<\/p>\n
It is not as competitive as the SEA Games and participants
\nenjoy being able to mingle with other countries' athletes.<\/p>\n
Some athletes exchanged gifts like Indonesian swimmer Kevin
\nRosa Nasution who swapped her Indonesia bag for a Northern
\nTerritory swimmer's bag.<\/p>\n
"Wow, it's too small," she said, expressing her surprise and
\njoy.<\/p>\n
Indra Djati Sidi said Monday that the Arafura Games
\nparticipants must maintain the games' unique characteristics.<\/p>\n
Northern Territorians showed their excitement during the Games
\nby strongly supporting their athletes.<\/p>\n
Could Jakartans support Indonesia's athletes and accept losses
\nin sport? There is surely something to learn from the Northern
\nTerritorians. (yan)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/biennial-arafura-games-still-needs-improvement-1447893297",
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