Gen. Edi opens national target shooting program

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)