Government blamed for Indonesia's poor performance in sports events
Government blamed for Indonesia's poor performance in sports events
JAKARTA (JP): The government's lack of commitment to support
sports in the country has been blamed as the main reason for
Indonesia's poor performance in international events in the last
few years.
Thomas Rosendich, director of the United States Sports Academy
(USSA), told reporters on Wednesday after signing a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) with the National Sports Council (KONI) that
the government showed little attention to sports compared to the
situation in the 1960s.
Rosendich, who coached national track and field athletes to
prepare for the 1962 Asian Games here, said former president
Soekarno had a strong commitment to boost Indonesia's performance
in sports events.
Soekarno built the Senayan sports complex to host the 1962
Asiad in which Indonesia was the runner up, its best result in
the Asian regional event.
Last year, Indonesia only managed to finish in 11th position
by taking home six gold medals. One of the six golds came from
the track after 36 years in waiting.
"Based on quality, Indonesian athletes in the 1960s and
recently are the same. What is different is the government's
commitment to sports development," said the 67-year-old former
marine colonel.
"I'm not sure the current government has as strong a
commitment as Soekarno did in the past," he said.
"In 1962, the government built the Senayan complex which cost
millions of dollars to show their support to sports. The
government also hired world-class coaches from the United States
and (former) East Germany," said Rosendich, who coached Muhammad
Sarengat to claim the fastest man title in 1962.
Rosendich said the USSA would help the Indonesia Sports
Academy (Akorin) to create qualified coaches in the future, as
included in the MoU. Graduates are expected to be able to apply
their knowledge.
"Indonesia doesn't need to send athletes to train abroad but
to deploy national coaches to enable them to build a proper
system and training program," he said.
However, he added that athletes needed to compete abroad to
test their skills against world-class contenders.
Rosendich expressed optimism that with the great number of
young talented athletes in this country, Indonesia would be able
to contest China and Japan in the future.
"From 200 million people in the country, KONI should not aim
to finish sixth in the 2006 Asiad but to be the overall champion
instead," he said. (yan)