Council categorizes sports for Asian Games

Council categorizes sports for Asian Games

JAKARTA (JP): The National Sports Council has categorized the
22 sports which Indonesia intends to contest at the 13th Asian
Games in Bangkok in December.

Muhammad Hindarto, the council's task force chairman and
athletes development deputy, told reporters yesterday that the
categories were made based on the 19th SEA Games results.

"There are three categories; the first is sports which will
win medals, the second category is sports which have a chance of
winning medals and the last category is sports which need more
attention during the long-term training in order to have a chance
to win medals," he said.

The 22 sports the council plans to compete in at the
continent's premier sporting gathering are: track and field,
badminton, boxing, canoeing, cycling, equestrian, fencing,
soccer, gymnastics, judo, karate, rowing, sepak takraw, shooting,
swimming, tae kwon do, tennis, volleyball (including beach
volleyball), weightlifting, wrestling, wushu and windsurfing.

In the first category are badminton, boxing, karate, tae kwon
do, tennis (if world-ranked-20 Yayuk Basuki plays), weightlifting
and windsurfing.

Beach volleyball, canoeing, fencing, rowing, sepak takraw,
swimming, wrestling and wushu make up the second category while
cycling, equestrian, gymnastics, indoor volleyball, judo,
shooting, soccer and track and field are in the third group.

"This is not the final decision. For example, windsurfer Oka
Sulaksana, who was in the second category based on the SEA Games
results, will be lifted into the first category as he won a gold
in the Singapore Open earlier this month," Hindarto said.

Despite its lofty ambitions, the council is still facing
financial problems as the National Development Planning Board has
only agreed to provide Rp 2 billion (US$247,000) of the Rp 15
billion asked for by the council.

Council chairman Wismoyo Arismunandar said at his office that
four provinces would stage decentralized training programs.

"Jakarta, West Java, Central Java and East Java have agreed to
stage the training. I also urge other governors to finance their
athletes who are being groomed for the Asiad during both the
training period and the quadrennial event," he said.

"We have also urged the sports organizations to finance, at
least half of the budget they need. But some organizations can
fully finance their athletes' training which will really help the
council," he added.

Wismoyo said that if the council could not solve its financial
problems, it might reduce the number of athletes it sends to the
Asiad.

"We'll only select athletes with potential to compete at the
Asiad, due to the rupiah's downturn," he said.

State Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Hayono Isman said
at his office that if the Asiad budget was only enough for eight
sports, other sports organizations should understand the
situation.

"All sports organizations must understand that we're in a very
woeful situation. We must work hard, efficiently and effectively
to win medals at the Asiad," he said.

"I suggest 'rich' sports organizations donate money to 'less
rich' organizations. It's the best way to increase Indonesia's
ranking in the Asiad," he added.

Archery

Hayono urged the Indonesian Archery Association to intensify
its athletes' preparation, not only for the Asiad but also for
the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, and the 2002 Asiad in
Pusan, South Korea.

"I'm glad that the association's officials are still highly-
motivated to groom the archers although the council has decided
not to include archery in its 22 sports for the (1998) Asiad," he
said.

"I understand that the archers' have not shown any improvement
based on the results of the 19th SEA Games. But the association
should not force the athletes to compete at the Asiad due to the
limited preparation," he added.

The association's deputy secretary-general, Udi Harsono, told
reporters after meeting the minister that the association would
assess the archers' progress after they have been trained by
Korean Lee Jae-hyun.

"We still have a chance to compete at the Asiad but it will
depend on our results at the Archery Federation of ASEAN
championships here in August," he said.

Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, Chinese Taipei and,
probably, two European countries, will compete at the
championships.

Lee said that he would start coaching Indonesia's national
team early next month.

"It's possible to increase their scores by 100 points in four
months but it needs hard work because their results at the Asian
championships in Langkawi, Malaysia, were very poor," said the
Korean, who will receive $3,000 per month.

Lee named Wahyu Hidayat on the men's side and Lucia Elizabeth
and Dwi Purwanti on the women's side as the archers with the most
potential to achieve international success. (yan)