Boxing to close SEA Games in Chiang Mai
Boxing to close SEA Games in Chiang Mai
JAKARTA (JP): Thailand's decision to cap the Southeast Asian Games with the boxing finals may pose a problem for Indonesia in its attempt to defend its overall SEA Games title.
The Games Organizing Committee informed the Indonesian National Sports Council (KONI) by fax over the weekend that boxing will replace soccer as the last event before the closing ceremony on Sunday, Dec. 17, at the newly built Chiang Mai stadium.
The soccer final will be moved up one day to Saturday. The soccer competition will kick off five days ahead of the opening ceremony on Dec. 9.
There are 12 gold medals on offer for boxing, an event long dominated by Thailand. Thailand and the Philippines shared five golds each in the 1993 Games in Singapore, while the rest went to Indonesia.
"King Bhumibol Aduljadej loves boxing very much," said a KONI official yesterday quoting the committee's announcement.
The Thais will celebrate the golden year of their king's coronation next year. A host country has the right to change the schedule at will.
Along with boxing, billiard and snooker finals as well as equestrian events finals will bring down the curtain of the eight-day sporting meet. The two events offer 16 golds, with Thailand poised to prevail in billiard and snooker.
Indonesian boxing coach Daniel Bahari recently told The Jakarta Post in Denpasar, Bali, that he was worried about the changed agenda.
"This will be a difficult challenge for Indonesian boxers," he said. Indonesia has picked nine pugilists for the Games, with a modest target of winning three golds.
Chiang Mai, Thailand's second largest city which lies 700 kilometers north of Bangkok, was named the host of the 18th SEA Games in conjunction with its 700th anniversary in February next year.
In the 1985 SEA Games in Bangkok, the host nation ended Indonesia's reign in the region's biggest sports extravaganza. Indonesia had ruled the Games since 1977, when Indonesia joined the Games, formerly called Southeast Peninsula Games.
Defending champion Indonesia will parade 471 sportsmen and women in Chiang Mai, following the Indonesian Judo Association's decision yesterday to send 16 athletes to the Games.
Tryout
Meanwhile, the Indonesian soccer team plans to tune up its SEA Games campaign with two matches in South Korea. Secretary of the national team body, Endro Sumarjo, said yesterday that South Korea is expected to schedule the friendly matches between Nov. 22 and 26.
"We need a better sparring partner to test our bid for the soccer gold medal," Endro said. The 20-man Indonesian team, which has just arrived from China, lost 2-3 to the Chinese Olympic team on Wednesday.
However, deputy project officer of the Games, Subardi Rauf, said that it would take KONI two days to study the proposal. "We will decide it on Wednesday."
Endro argued that his players would also acclimatize themselves to Chiang Mai's cool weather during their South Korean outing.
The team dropped its acclimatization program at Lembang, a hilly town near Bandung, due to the absence of representative soccer fields.
He said that the tryout was proposed after four foreign teams, including two Swedish clubs, failed to confirm their scheduled friendly matches here. (amd)