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)