A 'mission impossible' for RI Asiad squad

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.