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.