Bowling not for Asian Games: PBI
Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
National ten-pin bowlers have to bury their dreams of participating at the Busan 2002 Asian Games as the Indonesian Bowling Association (PBI) has decided not to send them, but opted for internal development instead.
"We took the decision after thorough deliberation. Our bowlers have yet to compete with even those from neighboring Malaysia and Singapore," PBI chairman Maxi Gunawan told reporters on Sunday.
"We can't get the bowlers ready in just three or four months. It'll be better if we improve our bowlers first and groom our junior bowlers as well," he added.
Besides from the Southeast Asian countries, PBI is expecting tough challenge from East Asian countries such as host South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan.
Maxi, elected as the new chairman last November, was speaking after a national working meeting over the weekend.
He also admitted that Indonesian bowlers were short-game players unsuitable for matches at the Asian Games, which has long games.
"Our bowlers may score a good average on the first six games but then their performance tends to tail off due to lack of physical fitness, or concentration and mental problems," said Maxi.
"Bowling is an individual game and you should not let yourself be distracted by opponents playing to your left and right."
Maxi revealed that the meeting discussed the effort to maximize bowlers' performance, which included coaching.
"It is unfair if we say that our bowlers are bad. Perhaps they don't get the right coaching. The problem is, we don't have any internationally recognized coaches," he said.
"There will be a training session in May for our coaches. We have invited officials from the World Ten-Pin Bowling Association (WBTA) to supervise the training," he added.
Meanwhile, PBI official responsible for international relations Aswin Limansantoso said that WBTA already possessed a database on most Indonesian bowlers.
"The world association is currently designing training methods suited to our bowlers."