Asian climbing championship gets green light
Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Security fears resulting from numerous anti-U.S. rallies will not matter when Indonesia hosts the Asian Sport Climbing Championships for the second time in five years at the eastern Plaza of the Bung Karno Sports Complex this weekend.
An official of the Indonesian Climbing Federation (FPTI) told a media conference on Tuesday that the 10th edition of the annual competition would go ahead on Saturday and Sunday as planned.
"It is such an honor for FPTI because the Asian Council for Competition Climbing (ACCC) agreed to sanction the event here, despite the recent security development," chairman of the organizing committee Col. Lodewijk F. Paulus said.
"We received questions from country federations about whether we would be able to guarantee their safety. Once we convinced them that their security was guaranteed, they confirmed their participation."
Paulus, commander of Anti-terror Group V of the Army's Special Force (Kopassus), said the organizing committee would provide a security detail upon arrival at the Soekarno-Hatta airport and during their stay at Hotel Atlet Century Park, which is near the competition venue.
"Actually their traveling needs will be limited because the venue and the hotel are very close to each other. The hotel is also close to Plaza Senayan if they wish to shop," he said.
Despite his position in the Kopassus elite force, Paulus said the organizers had entrusted security to the Jakarta Police.
Indonesia was deprived of the Wismilak Open tennis tournament in Surabaya and saw leading foreign participants skip the Power Bali 10K run due to security concerns.
The US$20,000 sport climbing event will see participants taking part in speed and difficulty events in both the men's and women's divisions.
So far, FPTI has received confirmation from China, which will send two climbers. Taiwan has 14 climbers, Hong Kong 16, India four, Malaysia eight, South Korea 15 and the Philippines 11. Host Indonesia has the privilege of fielding 32 climbers, or double the maximum quota of participants.
FPTI is still awaiting confirmation from Iran, Iraq, Japan, Singapore and Thailand.
Among the participants are Koreans Choo Kui-bok and Goh Mi-sun and Japanese Yuji Hirayama, who topped Asia's difficulty event, said Paulus.
"Goh always dominates the Asian women's difficulty events while Choo and Hirayama are tight competitors in the men's division," he added.
Meanwhile, Indonesia will rely on Ronald Mamarimbing and Etty Hendrawati in the speed event. Both Ronald and Etty recently won the Asian Cup in Kunming, China in September. Etty also won the ESPN World Xtreme Games in Virginia last year.
"Indonesian climbers always top the speed event, while we can only enter the top 10 rankings in the difficulty event," said FPTI secretary-general Kurnia.
"The Asian difficulty event is dominated by climbers from China, Japan and South Korea."
Kurnia also said the event would help with national selection for the World Cup, to be held in Malaysia next month.
As for the Asian championships, FPTI would use its recent rankings list to determine the Indonesian team.