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)