Kempo meet awaits foreign participants<\/p>\n
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Although a number of countries have decided to stay away citing
\nsecurity concerns, the organizers are still expecting foreign
\nparticipants at the upcoming Indonesia Open Kempo tournament to
\nbe held in Bali in August, an official said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The tournament, which is scheduled to run from Aug. 1 to Aug.
\n4, was initially referred to as the Asian Championships with nine
\ncountries on the participants' list.<\/p>\n
\"But the bombings in Bali (in October 2002) prompted most of
\nthe countries to call off their participation,\" committee
\nchairman Rudy Budi Manoppo said during a press conference after
\nmeeting officials with the National Sports Council (KONI) here.<\/p>\n
The nine countries originally scheduled are India, Indonesia,
\nJapan, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, East Timor and
\nVietnam.<\/p>\n
Indonesia is now rated number two in the world after the 2002
\nWorld Championship in Paris where it won four gold medals to
\nfinish in second place behind Japan, the sport's country of
\norigin.<\/p>\n
Despite the withdrawal of the majority of the countries, the
\nIndonesian Kempo Association (Perkemi), according to Rudy, has
\ndecided to let the show go on, and renaming the event, the
\nIndonesia Open.<\/p>\n
\"We are still expecting foreign participants to come, not only
\nthose from Asia but also other countries in the world,\" Rudy
\nsaid, adding that the committee had sent invitations to all 36
\nmember countries of the World Shorinji Kempo Organization.<\/p>\n
The committee expects around 250 foreign participants and 600
\nlocals to turn up for the tournament.<\/p>\n
For the locals, the tournament will also be used for national
\nteam selection ahead of the National Sports Championship (PON) in
\nPalembang, South Sumatra in 2004 where 136 slots for Kempo will
\nbe on offer.<\/p>\n
The 2003 Indonesia Open will also coincide with a congress to
\nset up the new board of the association for the 2003-2007 term.
\nHarry Triono is the current chairman of Perkemi.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Timbul Thomas Lubis, who is the secretary-general
\nof Perkemi, said the Association would make an effort to get
\nKempo recognized as a full medal sport in the Southeast Asian
\n(SEA) Games.<\/p>\n
\"The barrier so far has been that the number of federations in
\nthe region does not meet the requirements,\" he said.<\/p>\n
With 10 nations grouped in the region, Kempo has official
\norganizations only in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam,
\nwhile the SEA Games, which will next be held in Vietnam in
\nDecember, requires at least five federations.<\/p>\n
With the sport not in the SEA Games, said Timbul, Kempo faced
\nobstacles to development in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
\"The people do not appear to be encouraged to take up Kempo.
\nThey are deterred by the fact that Kempo does not provide an
\nopportunity to compete at a higher level such as the SEA Games or
\nthe Asian Games,\" Timbul said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/kempo-meet-awaits-foreign-participants-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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