Excellent sports coverage

Excellent sports coverage

First of all, congratulations to The Jakarta Post on its fine
coverage of the recently concluded 13th Asian Games in Bangkok.
The events were, thankfully, almost wholly drug-free, and the
Thais did a great job as hosts, despite the current Asian
recession.

Second, I believe it's about time the Post's hard working
journalists received credit for their efforts. Special thanks to
your reporter Ms. Primastuti Handayani, who covered the games
directly, and also your sports editors, who often made up
attractive headlines (Flying Koji Ito is Asia's new fastest man,
Dec. 14).

Ms. Handayani's reports from Bangkok compensated for the fact
that your regular news sources, the international wire services,
hardly ever focus on individual achievements by athletes from
nations considered lesser sporting powers. One wonders how many
small countries which manage to win a single gold medal, for
example, have the event covered in its local newspapers. Some
national presses cannot afford to send journalists to
international events like the Asian Games.

I read every article concerning Indonesian athletes and also
followed the Games as a whole in your newspaper. The roundup
featured on Indonesia's gold-medal winners in your Dec. 21 issue
was superb. Although we can find information on our sports
figures' exploits through the Indonesian-language press, too, The
Jakarta Post's concise reporting and editing is far preferable to
the long-windedness you often encounter here. Well done, Post.

After the bouquets must come a (tiny?) brickbat. Looking at
the boxed results of events one day, I was surprised that you
were reporting on "The ASEAN Games!"

FARID BASKORO

Jakarta