Basketball meet to honor Sukarno

Basketball meet to honor Sukarno

JAKARTA (JP): A nine-day student basketball competition will
be held in Jakarta in remembrance of the country's founding
president, Sukarno.

Committee chairman Ary Sudarsono said on Wednesday that 81
school and university teams from greater Jakarta area had
confirmed their entries.

With cheer leader and poetry reading contests coinciding with
the basketball tournament, the organizers will draw no less than
1,000 participants to the Senayan Basketball Hall, Ary said.

The Sept. 19-27 event is organized by the Soekarno Foundation
for Education, which celebrates its 17th anniversary on Sept. 27.
It will be the first sporting event the foundation has ever
hosted.

Ary said the basketball tournament will be divided into three
age groups, comprising junior high school, senior high school and
university categories. The participating teams will play knock-
out matches.

"Winners of both genders will not receive cash prizes but
medals and certificates which bear Sukarno's picture," Ary said.

A number of top pop singers will also add spice to the event
with their patriotic singing performances in the opening
ceremony.

"We are expecting a cheerful event, while at the same time we
want people to always remember Bung Karno (Sukarno's popular
name)," Ary said.

The organizers will have a number of stands around the venue,
where they will sell books written by Sukarno, his pictures,
souvenirs and T-shirts.

Chairperson of the foundation, Rachmawati Soekarnoputri, who
is one of Sukarno's daughters, said her father's favorite saying
of mensana in corporesano had inspired her to hold the basketball
competition.

She said she was concerned about Indonesia's poor performance
in sports over the past few decades.

"Compared to the likes of Mohammad Sarengat and Anwar Ramang
in their heyday in the 1960s, our athletes who are the product of
the New Order come up short of international laurels. Our sport
has been in decline during the past 32 years," Rachmawati said.

She said money was not the answer, as the country's sporting
legends had proved.

"I believe the only solution to improving our sporting
achievements is to encourage athletes to dedicate themselves to
the country and not compete for the money," Rachmawati said.
(lnt)