Athletes complain of Korean bias at Asiad
Athletes complain of Korean bias at Asiad
Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Busan, South Korea
Indonesian downhill mountain bikers complained that they had yet
to familiarize themselves with the whole course as the organizing
committee only allowed them training sessions on the second half
of the course.
"Only Korean bikers were allowed to train on the complete
course," said biker Risa Suseanty after attending the flag-
hoisting ceremony marking the official welcome of the Indonesian
contingent to the village on Wednesday.
"But it is natural that, being the host country, they want to
reap all the advantages they can."
The Korean team members, said Risa, felt uncomfortable with
this special privilege as they were on friendly terms with the
Indonesian bikers.
"Luckily, I know the Korean team manager and he has promised
to give me an outline of the complete course," she said.
But coach Sugeng Tri Hartono played down the allegation that
training sessions had been restricted intentionally as the
Indonesian bikers had arrived early.
"We will not lodge any complaint if other countries also
receive the same treatment," he said.
"But we'll still approach the organizing committee to allow us
to use the course before competition day."
Risa said the track was narrow, with tree trunks along its
left and right margins, requiring full concentration while riding
the bikes.
"Once you lose your concentration, you will surely hit the
tree trunks.
"The course also requires a high level of skill. The ground is
dry, making it more slippery than at our training ground at
Jayagiri (Lembang regency) in West Java," she said.
Another mountain biker, Sugianto Setiawan, said the course was
relatively straight, with not so many bends.
"It depends on the riders' guts how fast they ride.
"The level of difficulty is not very high if compared with the
track used for the Asia championships in Seoul in 2000 and last
year," he said.
The Indonesian team was the third officially received at the
Busan 2002 Asian Games athletes' village, with a flag-hoisting
ceremony at the village's Flag Plaza on Wednesday.
Indonesia was among the earlier teams to enter the village but
the North Korea team was the first, followed by the Philippines.
Led by chef-de-mission Rudolf S. Warouw, some 50 athletes and
officials were welcomed by athletes' village mayor Wang Sang-eun.
Warouw presented Wang with a silver replica of Borobudur temple.
When asked why Indonesia was accepted as the third country to
officially enter the village, Warouw said it was the policy of
the organizing committee.
Besides bikers, Indonesian rowers also had their training
sessions early in the morning.
The rowers complained that the athletes' village was located
quite far from the venue.
The village is located in Banyeo in Busan's eastern district
of Haeundae while the rowing venue is on the Nakdong river on
Busan's western outskirts.
The rowers must take a one-and-a-half-hour bus ride from the
village to the venue.
"It's really time-consuming. It means we have to spend three
hours on the bus just for one training session. Our plan is to
have two training sessions per day," rowing official Sukering
told reporters.
"It's not only time-consuming but also very tiring."
Sukering also said the rowers had yet to study the river
currents as they had just had their first training session on
Wednesday.
"We need several training sessions before we know the state of
the river, including wind and water currents," he said.
Meanwhile, Indonesia's only swimmer Richard Sam Bera told
reporters he would improve his start technique.
"I have been focusing on my start technique in the U.S. for
three weeks. I still have about one week to go before tournament
day on Oct. 3.
"But the starting block here is slightly different to the one
in the U.S. so I have to adapt my technique to the block here,"
he added.
Richard will participate in the men's 50-meter and 100-meter
freestyle events.