A reason to try harder

A reason to try harder

Indonesia's defeat in the Southeast Asian Games soccer match
against question-mark Vietnam -- which had been away from the
Games for decades -- and the first-day shock of seeing the
marauding Thais win gold almost at will was a bitter pill for
Indonesia to swallow. It certainly demoralized Indonesia's
athletes competing in Chiang Mai.

Shocked by the high riding Thais who practically dominated all
the final events, Indonesia's quest to be the overall champion of
the Games came to naught, bringing home the bitter realization
that something was wrong in this country's preparations for the
Games -- and, for that matter, with sports in this country in
general.

Indonesia finally threw in the towel in its fight to defend
its title as the region's number one sporting nation, with
officials accepting defeat on the sixth day of the Games.

As usual -- in the wake of any major disappointment -- there
have been allegations of foul play by Thai officials during the
Games. After all some tricks here and there are hard to avoid in
any sporting event. However, it would be more relevant -- and
more in the spirit of good sportsmanship -- to do some serious
soul searching on our part and to try to determine where we went
wrong.

In Bangkok, an Indonesian contingent official played down the
mounting allegations by some Indonesian coaches that Thailand was
using any means to gain victory. As the official said, Indonesian
athletes underwent Herculean training stints in the run-up to the
Games, but "unfortunately, Thailand's athletes were more diligent
in adhering to their training programs. They have left us far
behind".

The Thais started grooming their sportsmen and women for the
Games shortly after the conclusion of the 1993 Games, apparently
setting their sight on an even bigger event -- the 1998 Asian
Games -- even while they were training for SEA Games. Indonesia,
by contrast, did not kick off its training program for this
year's SEA Games until April this year.

It took some two years for the Thais to prepare themselves for
these Games and the efforts were fully backed by the government
in cooperation with private business.

Although the Thais had been preparing their athletes for two
years with various training stints at home and abroad, Indonesia
did not begin to get serious about training sessions until just a
few months before the Games, reportedly due to difficulty in
getting funds to finance the training program.

Thus, what happened 10 years ago in Bangkok was repeated in
the past nine days. Worse, the debacle was even more disturbing
because Indonesia did not even mount any serious challenge in the
race for gold against Thailand..

So let us be frank with ourselves: We were on the wrong track
in evaluating the development of sports in the region and we were
riding too much on our past glory, although more recently this
glory has not been as bright as it was years earlier. In the
Manila SEA Games in 1991, for example, Indonesia's overall
victory was decided by just one gold medal over the Philippines.

As the torch of the 18th Games was put out at Chiang Mai and
darkness fell over the stadium yesterday, there may have been
many among us with a decidedly gloomy perspective of Indonesia's
sports future. However, surely there is no reason for total
dejection. With the talent that we have at hand -- and
considering our performance in the past -- there is no reason we
cannot make greater achievements, provided that the right
approaches be found. Let us, then, view this year's debacle in
its fitting light and do our best to see that such a thing does
not happen again.