Fighting sports tight-lipped on Southeast Asian Games target
Fighting sports tight-lipped on Southeast Asian Games target
JAKARTA (JP): Several officials from the pugilistic sports
were adopting a low profile on their targets for the Kuala Lumpur
Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in September, citing the new regional
powerhouse Vietnam as their toughest rival.
Chairman of the Indonesian Taekwondo Association (TI) Suharto
told reporters on Thursday that the body only expected to take
three of the 16 golds at stake.
"This target is based on our results at the Southeast Asian
Taekwondo Union (SEATU) championship last December in Vietnam.
Most countries did not deploy their full teams," he said after
attending a roll call ceremony in Senayan, Central Jakarta.
"Besides, Vietnam has emerged as a powerful country in the
region by sending their taekwondoins to South Korea."
Meanwhile, pencak silat's head coach Puji Handoko said the
Indonesian Pencak Silat Association (IPSI) only aimed at bringing
home eight to 10 golds from the 28 events being staged.
"Indonesia will not win easily because we will face strong
opposition, especially from Vietnam. They showed great progress
during last November's World Championship here," he said.
"Our pesilat (fighters) cannot rely on physical fitness alone
against the Vietnamese. They must use new techniques and
strategies. We can dig out new techniques from our numerous silat
schools and styles."
Previously, fighting sports including taekwondo, pencak silat,
karate and judo have always been gold mines for Indonesia at the
Games. But this dominance has been vanishing following the
economic turmoil which hit the country in 1997 and forced sports
organizations to develop their athletes based on budget-oriented
strategies.
Separately, veteran judoist Kresna Bayu said that the SEA
Games were only an intermediate target for him.
"It will be my fifth SEA Games and they will serve only as a
preparation for the Asian Games. I want to achieve a better
result in the Pusan 2002 Asian Games," he said.
"I have participated in two previous Asiad but failed to
obtain satisfactory results."
Kresna, who won two golds in the 1997 Games here, will join
the German professional judo league in March. He joins the
Etlingen Judo Club one month prior to the Games. Judo was not
featured in the 1999 Games in Brunei Darussalam.
KONI chairman Wismoyo Arismunandar called on national athletes
and coaches to give their best to restore the nation's pride or
else retire from the national training center to avoid wasting
time.
"Our participation in the Games is mainly aimed at restoring
our tarnished image during this transitional period with such a
large number of clashes and violent incidents taking place,"
Wismoyo said in his speech.
"You must be able to achieve your optimum results at the
Games. It's important to avoid further humiliation like what
happened in 1999."
The KONI officials in charge of the SEA Games preparations
have refused to specify exact medal targets, preferring instead
to use phrases like "better achievement" and "avoiding similar
humiliation."
Roll call ceremonies were also held in Bandung, Bandar
Lampung, Semarang, Surabaya and Bali where the other national
training centers are located.
Due to financial problems, KONI has requested that several
provincial administrations finance the decentralized centers.
"The central government has yet to announce its commitment to
financing the Indonesian contingent to the SEA Games," Wismoyo
said.
"That's why athletes and coaches have to work hard because our
people directly finance the Games' preparations through the
provincial budgets." (nvn)