Did or didn't Indonesia fail in Asian Games?<\/p>\n
Indonesia only managed to get the 11th slot in the just
\nconcluded Asian Games in Hiroshima. Sports observer Sumohadi
\nMarsis takes a closer look at this unfortunate result.<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): It seems a reasonable question to ask after the
\nconclusion of last week's 12th Asian Games in Hiroshima: Did or
\ndidn't the Indonesian contingent fail in the biggest of Asia's
\nsports festival?<\/p>\n
If we use as our yardstick The Indonesian National Sports
\nCommittee's (KONI) target for the Indonesian athletes, set before
\ntheir departure last month, then the answer is, without a doubt,
\na resounding \"yes\".<\/p>\n
That target was set at a minimum of four gold medals for
\nbadminton, one for tennis and one for boxing.<\/p>\n
As it turned out, our 139-strong contingent managed to garner
\nonly three gold medals, from badminton, and 12 silver and 11
\nbronze medals from various other sports.<\/p>\n
Worse still, Indonesia's ranking declined from seventh at the
\nBeijing Asian Games four years ago to eleventh. And for the first
\ntime in the history of the Asian Games, our position was below
\nthat of Malaysia.<\/p>\n
Why did they fail and what can be done to correct the
\nsituation?<\/p>\n
The most sensational upset, of course, was the defeat of Susi
\nSusanti at the hands of Hisako Mizui in the women's badminton
\nsingle semifinals.<\/p>\n
This was a startling defeat. Mizui has never been favored to
\nwin any tournament. She has played against Susi six times and has
\nnever managed to win. In their seventh match, at Hiroshima, she
\nscored her first victory in two straight sets: 11-4, 11-5.<\/p>\n
What went wrong? In the wake of her defeat at Hiroshima, it
\nwas a question endlessly thrown at the 1992 Olympic gold winner
\nand reigning queen of the 1994 Uber Cup.<\/p>\n
It was also a question Susi herself was at a loss to answer.
\nAs media reporters kept asking, the tone of her answers to the
\nquestion grew regretful: \"I don't know why this happened. Do I
\nperhaps owe somebody something? Did I hurt somebody? Have I
\nbecome conceited?\"<\/p>\n
Only Susi can answer those questions, but it seems clear that
\nnon-technical factors were mostly to blame for her defeat by
\nMizui.<\/p>\n
For certain, Susi did covet a victory very much. An Asian
\nGames gold medal was the only major victory symbol that was
\nlacking in her collection of medals. Four years ago she failed.
\nShe was determined not to fail this year because in four more
\nyears much of her punch and stamina will have been lost. It was a
\ncondition that turned every major contest into a matter of \"to be
\nor not to be\" for her.<\/p>\n
But so many successive victories in such long a time span --
\n14 months -- also seemed to have had a tiring effect on her
\nmind. Mizui, on the other hand, being the underdog, was
\npsychologically in a more advantageous position. With nothing to
\nlose, she was calmer and more relaxed.<\/p>\n
And what about the defeat Susi and teammates suffered against
\nSouth Korea in the women's badminton team finals.<\/p>\n
This was altogether a different matter. Susi won, but her
\nteammates proved unable to match her performance. It was this
\njagged capacity that became a problem when our women had to
\nconfront a team as solid as that of South Korea. It was a problem
\nalready obvious during the Uber Cup tournament at Senayan in May.<\/p>\n
Tennis<\/p>\n
The same condition existed on the tennis court. Yayuk Basuki,
\nranked 28th in the world, was too strong for her teammates, so
\nthe hope of winning a gold medal in the women's team events
\ncollapsed when pitched against Japan.<\/p>\n
Yayuk failed in the individual events as well, both in the
\nsingles and in the mixed doubles. Four years ago, in Beijing, it
\nwas in this latter field that she and Suharyadi, now her husband,
\nexcelled.<\/p>\n
It seems that the performance of Yayuk, who won her first
\nAsian Games gold medal in Seoul, in 1986, when she was only 18,
\nis now on the decline. All the more so, since in Hiroshima, she
\nhad to face Kimiko Date, who is ranked No. 9 in the world and who
\nYayuk admits is \"one class above me\".<\/p>\n
Another gold medal opportunity in tennis was lost when, in the
\nfinals of the men's team events, Benny Wijaya and teammates lost
\nagainst India, whose repute rests, in reality, on the strength of
\nonly one man: Leander Paes.<\/p>\n
Our boxer Pino Bahari, who was expected to retain the title he
\nwon in Beijing in 1990, saw himself pitched against Topaev, the
\nworld champion from Kazakhstan, who was, once again, a class
\nabove.<\/p>\n
What must we do now that we are back from Hiroshima without
\nhaving met our target?<\/p>\n
Obviously, the top representatives of all the organizations
\nwhich hold the fate of our national sports ambassadors in their
\nhands, together with KONI, must sit down and do their
\nevaluations, make corrections and plan for the future.<\/p>\n
As for Susi, she will be able to do the necessary mending on
\nher own. But trouncings that stem from \"class inadequacies\" can
\nonly be averted by conceptualizing more extended conditioning
\nprograms and by providing more opportunities for our athletes to
\ncompete and gain experience in a variety of international sports
\narenas.<\/p>\n
Concerning our athletes who failed, and no longer hold the
\npotential of growth in their performance, we should work up the
\ncourage to leave them out of future contingents that are designed
\nto represent Indonesia in sports events at levels such as those
\nof the Asian Games.<\/p>\n
Let there be no talk of failure to meet the target after the
\n1998 Asian Games in Bangkok.<\/p>\n
The writer is deputy editor in chief of the Bola sports weekly
\ntabloid.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/did-or-didnt-indonesia-fail-in-asian-games-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}