Contract problem halts building of hockey field

JAKARTA (JP): Field Hockey is in danger of not being ready in time for the 19th SEA Games in October.

American company Astro Turf, which was awarded the contract to build the synthetic field, has left the country after not receiving payment for the job.

Indonesian Hockey Association official Menur said yesterday that Theodore Seppos of Cyprus left on Sunday because he had not received his salary from the Games consortium, which promised to pay Seppos US$12,000 in advanced.

"Seppos has been working here since June and the order of payment has been processed but the money has yet to be transferred. He decided to go home and will return here after the consortium pays him," Menur said.

Menur said Seppos had to supervise the construction himself.

The consortium appointed Astro Turf to build the Rp 1.5 billion (US$568,182) field, located next to the old field in the Senayan sports complex.

The field was expected to be completed two months prior to the Games, which will be staged from Oct. 11 to Oct. 19.

The National Training director, Djoko Pramono, expressed concern over the problem, especially with the Games being only 74 days away.

"Until I see all the venues ready, I'll be very worried. It's only reasonable because we want to take advantage as host to try the field as soon as it's ready.

"I hope all venues will be ready on Sep. 1. It will be too late to adapt. We need as least two months to try them," he said.

Djoko also said that six sports -- including fencing, softball, karate and tae kwon do -- had chosen their final squads for the Games.

"By Aug. 1, all sports will set up their final teams. If they want to have more than the quota, the sports organizations will have to finance them," he said.

Softball

The Indonesia Amateur Baseball and Softball Federation named its main men's team for the SEA Games on Monday.

Indro Susilo, deputy team manager, told Kompas that a meeting of training officials and coaches decided to exclude three players from the squad.

"The decision in selecting the players was based on our consideration of building a strong team for the infield or outfield," Indro said.

The association named players Roy Umbasan, Hardi, Iwan Jarot Pujianto, Gafur Nurfanto, Lukmanul Hakim, Dondi Apriliandi, Rafli Mustafa, T. Syaiful Amri, Joehari, Eddy Zoebadi, Roy Harland and Rizal. It named Anca Ardiansyah, Donni Kusumah and Toni Pratono as pitchers.

Coach John Lowes of New Zealand said that each player had to understand his job on the field.

Softball training director Pramana Surjaudaja expressed optimism in beating the Philippines.

"Two years ago we beat the Philippines in the ASEAN championship," he said.

Indonesia has never beaten the Philippines in the SEA Games.

The association will send the team for a 13-day stint in Perth, Australia, to compete in an interclub championship.

Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia will also compete in the championship. (yan)