IA athletes told to get their act together<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The National Sports Council (KONI) is warning athletes in its
\nspecialized program for the 2006 Asian Games to start performing
\nor face the consequences.<\/p>\n
Half of the 12 sports in the Indonesia Awakens (IA) program
\nare considered behind the goal of offering solid medal
\nopportunities, KONI said on Wednesday during an evaluation of the
\nprogram, which began in April 2004.<\/p>\n
The athletes' testing ground will be the 2005 Southeast Asian
\n(SEA) Games in Manila in November.<\/p>\n
The sports considered lagging behind are athletics,
\nweightlifting, karate, shooting, archery and tennis.<\/p>\n
Badminton, cycling, chess, windsurfing, tae kwon do and beach
\nvolleyball are on target in their goals.<\/p>\n
\"The SEA Games will be a critical point for the IA athletes to
\nshow their true qualities,\" KONI head of development affairs
\nDjoko Pramono said.<\/p>\n
For example, he added, tennis had a total of eight athletes in
\nthe IA program, but if only national number one Angelique \"Angie\"
\nWidjaja and Wynne Prakusya performed to expectations in the SEA
\nGames, the other players could be removed.<\/p>\n
\"This will be applied to other sports as well,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Weightlifting is facing particular problems, with the refusal
\nof a coach to work and injuries among the athletes.<\/p>\n
In athletics, 110-meter hurdle runner Eddy Zakaria ran 14.34
\nseconds in the Islamic Solidarity Games in April, far below his
\nbest time of 14.11.<\/p>\n
Karate failed to grab medals in the Islamic Solidarity Games
\nbut gained three bronzes in an international tournament in
\nChinese Taipei.<\/p>\n
In shooting, athletes only began the second phase of their
\ntraining program last October.<\/p>\n
As for archery, the athletes took only one bronze and one
\nsilver in the Asian Championship in February.<\/p>\n
Djoko said he was satisfied with the progress in cycling, with
\nSantia Tri Kusuma recruited by a team in the Netherlands to
\nparticipate in 22 races in the next five months.<\/p>\n
\"She won the third stage in the Australia tour, which is
\nenough to take her to Europe,\" he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ia-athletes-told-to-get-their-act-together-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}