A 'mission impossible' for RI Asiad squad

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Busan, South Korea

The 2002 Asian Games (Asiad) in Busan is scheduled to open on Sunday. South Korean teenagers are gearing up to witness the promised spectacular ceremony. Fireworks will color the second biggest sports event in the world.

But one question remains: What will happen to Indonesia?

President Megawati Soekarnoputri has demanded the impossible: bring home 15 of the 420 golds at stake.

But with 44 countries competing? Is it realistic?

Well, Madam President, let's see.

Combing through the contingent, one easily recognizes the old hands: shuttlers Hendrawan, Marlev Mainaky, Taufik Hidayat, Candra Wijaya, Sigit Budiarto, Tri Kusherjanto and Bambang Suprianto. They were all members of the 2002 Thomas Cup winning team.

Wait a minute! Where are Sony Dwi Kuncoro and Ardiansyah? Sadly, they are spending their days practicing at the Indonesian Badminton Center in Cipayung, East Jakarta, while their rivals at the 2000 World Junior Championships, Lin Dan and Bao Chunlai of China, are busy defending their country at the Asiad.

Other familiars are 30-year-old swimmer Richard Sam Bera and 30-year-old gymnast Jonathan Sianturi.

What does it mean? It means the National Sports Council (KONI) and sports organizations have failed in the grooming of junior athletes. It will likely lead to the failure of fulfilling Megawati's demand of 15 golds.

Surprisingly, Indonesia's deputy chef de mission Imron ZS has boasted that "we can even surpass the expectation of 15 golds".

Indonesia's best record is the 11 golds it won at the 1962 Asiad here. Since then the country's achievements have declined, with the second best record of eight golds at the eighth Asiad in Bangkok in 1986. Twelve years later in the same city, Indonesia took six golds.

With the stagnant grooming process, our athletes will carry a heavy burden on their shoulders once the Games torch, called the Unification Flame, is lit at the cauldron in Busan Asiad Main Stadium.

History has shown that Indonesian sporting society is currently at its lowest point following the prolonged monetary crisis which first struck the country in 1997. Financial restraints are being blamed for sports organizations' failure in sports development.

This year's preparation was not without obstacles.

First was the lack of money, which is a lame excuse considering that Indonesia first started to lose its grip in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in 1999 in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, by only finishing third. It was the humiliating result which, eventually, continued in the 2001 Games in Kuala Lumpur.

The second problem is sports organizations' reluctance to pay attention to junior athletes' development. They prefer to follow KONI's instruction by only deploying seasoned athletes in multisports events "for the sake of the country's pride".

To KONI, Asian Games and SEA Games are not the right events to send juniors who may not be able to deliver in their debuts. The organizations have forgotten that grooming junior athletes also includes sending them to big events with more seasoned athletes.

Countries like Thailand, Vietnam, China and Korea always send junior athletes to prepare them for future major events.

Vietnam surely has set its sights high as it will host the 2003 SEA Games. The host country will not accept a bad performance in front of a home crowd. As for Thai athletes, they have the Athens 2004 Olympiad on their minds.

Busan is definitely not Jakarta. With a four million population, the city in South Korea hosted three matches of the 2002 World Cup soccer final -- which it jointly hosted with neighboring Japan -- and is now hosting the Asian Games, the second biggest major sports event after the Olympics.

What about Jakarta?

Busan's sister city's fate is completely different. The country's only major sports complex is in Senayan -- the Bung Karno Sports Complex -- but there have been no real improvements to it since it was built by the first president back in the 1960s.

Without proper facilities, it's little wonder that it is difficult for Indonesia to prepare its best athletes for major sports events.

Of course, dreaming of hosting a big event like Asiad would be too much for a crowded city like Jakarta with its 12 million people.

Perhaps Megawati should include sports development in the state budget to enable sports organizations to groom athletes better and then athletes could concentrate on training without worrying about finding a job. The next time the President requests a number of gold medals to be brought home, our athletes could quickly reply "at your service Mr./Mrs. President. It's no problem at all."

After that, we could start dreaming of having Jakarta or some other city host the Asiad with a spectacular fireworks display.