Gen. Edi opens national target shooting program

CILODONG, West Java (JP): The Indonesian Target Shooting Association and the Armed Forces began their four-year training program for military and police officers at the Army's shooting range yesterday.

Chairman of the association Gen. Edi Sudradjat, who is also the minister of defense and security, said the aim of the program was to produce national athletes to represent the country in international events.

"The long-term program must run continuously. If the athletes have other jobs, I don't think they can achieve their goals to the maximum, especially in international events," Edi said.

The association and the National Sports Council want the national team to beat Thailand's in next year's Southeast Asian Games. At the last games, Thailand stole the overall title from Indonesia.

"Shooting is a sport which offers many medals in national and international sporting events," Edi said at the opening ceremony of the training program.

In April, the association and the Armed Forces selected 289 officers, aged early 20s, for the program. They included 104 army officers, 79 naval officers, 27 air force officers and 79 police officers.

Soetomo, the chairman of the training program, said the officers went through a second selection trial last month. From the 289 officers, only 150 were admitted to the program. They included 60 army officers, 30 naval officers, four air force officers and 56 police officers.

Another selection trial will be held at the end of next month to narrow the group to 95. The group will be divided among the 19 shooting events.

Soetomo said four Chinese coaches would coach the team for 36 months.

Edi said the association provides the facilities for the program and the Armed Forces provides the team.

"The ministry of defense and security will provide the budget," he said. He would not reveal the budget's value.

"It's a most expensive sport," he said.

Edi said the military and non-military athletes must go through selection trials to choose the best team for the Southeast Asian Games.

"There will not be military or non-military athletes. The most important thing is that they must achieve more, producing the highest scores," he said.

"Who knows, maybe the non-military athletes are better than the military officers," he said. (yan)