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.