Athletic body unveils plan for SEA Games

Athletic body unveils plan for SEA Games

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Track and Field Association
revealed on Friday the key measures it expects to boost its
athletes' performance at the 1997 Southeast Asian Games here.

The association's training director Gurmilang Kartasasmita
told a hearing with the National Sports Council that the
country's athletes need a long-term training program.

"We are the first sports organization to kick off the training
program for the SEA Games," Gurmilang said. The association
regrouped its athletes for the program on Jan. 3, about 20 months
before the Games.

The council announced last month that the centralized training
program for the SEA Games officially began on Feb. 1, but almost
all of the sports organizations decided to delay their own
programs to March due to the fasting month.

Gurmilang said that the second measure was to financially and
technically support athletes who opt to train in their hometowns,
instead of in Jakarta. "But we will try to keep in touch with
them," he said.

The organization also plans to call up all the athletes at the
end of the National Games in September for a centralized training
stint here.

And it plans to send selected athletes for an overseas stint.
"There was a strong correlation between overseas training and
performance when we geared up for the 1987 SEA Games here. Having
been trained in Europe three months before the Games, we scooped
17 gold medals," Gurmilang said.

Finally, the association proposed a talent scouting program
during regional track and field meets throughout the country
which are scheduled to begin on March 10.

Indonesia managed only seven golds, eight silvers and 10
bronzes in the last SEA Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand last
December. The association had earlier set a target of winning 15
golds.

National coach Peter Noya, who accompanied Gurmilang during
the hearing, told the council that the 14th National Games will
serve as the last sieve to select athletes for the 19th SEA
Games.

"Athletes whose performance at the National Games meet or even
exceed our standards will be nominated as our SEA Games team
members," Peter said.

The National Games are scheduled for from Sept. 9 to Sept. 20
here, one year earlier than originally planned.

Peter said that the other selection grounds would be the
Singapore Open and the Malaysia Open in August.

The council has yet to decide the date for the SEA Games next
year, but said that September or October look feasible. (arf)