Donation promises yet to materialize

Donation promises yet to materialize

JAKARTA (JP): Common fund-raising practices might be applied
should the funds garnered from around 50 prominent businessmen
prove inadequate to finance the preparations of the national team
for the 18th Southeast Asian Games in Thailand.

"We might sell endorsements or other reciprocal financing
packages such as broadcasting rights," tycoon Sudwikatmono, who
coordinates the businessmen under the National Sports Council
(KONI)'s fund-raising body called special staff, told The Jakarta
Post yesterday.

Sudwikatmono said the businessmen have committed to providing
KONI with cash funds but none of them have so far mentioned how
much they will provide.

"We are still looking for the right time to gather all of
them, for instance at a gala dinner, during which they would be
required to say how much they want to donate," he said. KONI
needs Rp 15 billion (US$6.8 million) to finance the national
team's preparations for the Chiang Mai Games.

Meanwhile, M. Hindarto, KONI's chief in charge of athletes'
development, told reporters yesterday he was concerned that the
Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) might have to field the
same shuttlers at the world Grand Prix finals, slated for Dec.
13-17 in Bangkok, and also at the SEA Games slated for Dec. 9-17.

"Thailand, the host of both events, has deliberately arranged
such an overlapping schedule to make it difficult for our
athletes to reach peak performance," Hindarto said.

Hindarto said KONI has carefully timed the athletes' biorhythm
to achieve peak performance at the Games. The Grand Prix finals,
however, is by no means less important because it serves as a
qualifying round for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

"Let PBSI solve this problem," he said.

He added KONI has not yet decided which national athletes it
will field at the Chiang Mai SEA Games. Previously, on Mar. 8,
KONI registered with the Games organizer that it will take part
in 27 sports.

"By the end of August, our athletes will have finished their
centralized training programs as well as their tryouts and the
national team should have been formed," Hindarto said. He added
that KONI will register the athletes' names in early November.
(arf)