Contract problem halts building of hockey field
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)