Indonesia eyes Asiad medals from 11 sports

JAKARTA (JP): After months of observation, the National Sports Council concluded yesterday that Indonesia could expect to win medals in 11 sports at the 13th Asian Games.

Speaking at a media conference that followed a two-day consultative meeting with coaches, the national team's training director Mochamad Hindarto said that the country also had a chance, albeit slim, to collect medals in another eight events.

He said the council would call up 109 athletes from the 19 sports to join a final tune-up starting on Sep. 1. Most athletes will undergo their final preparations here, but some will be stationed in the provinces, including the weightlifters, who will be based in Lampung, and the wushu athletes, who will train in Medan, North Sumatra.

The team line-up will be announced by the end of November.

"But the decision on how many athletes will go to Asiad will depend heavily on how much money we have," he said.

The council's early estimate of funds available for the games stands at Rp 7 billion (US$583,000), of which the government will provide Rp 5.2 billion. The council is also considering seeking sponsorship from the country's business community.

"We'll take athletes with the best chances of winning medals. We're not going to force ourselves to send a large number of athletes to the games with the monetary crisis still going on," Hindarto said.

The 11 sports given top priority are badminton, beach volleyball, boxing, canoeing, gymnastics, karate, shooting, tennis, weightlifting, windsurfing and wushu martial art. A total of 69 athletes from these sports have been groomed for the Asiad.

Indonesia won three gold medals in the last Asiad, held four years ago in Hiroshima, Japan. All were won by badminton players.

Soccer and show jumping are among the eight second priority sports, despite having the personal support of council chairman Wismoyo Arismunandar. The other less promising sports are track and field, fencing, judo, sepak takraw (a traditional ball game), swimming and tae kwon do.

The national soccer team beat Sydney United 4-1 in its last warm-up before the Tiger Cup in Vietnam, but it will only be put forward for the Asiad if it reaches the final in the Aug. 26-Sep. 5 tournament.

Hindarto said athletes from the second priority events would be allowed to don the national colors in the Asiad if their respective sports organizations were prepared to cover their expenses.

"We will consider letting our show jumpers compete in the games because the equestrian governing body has agreed to pay its own athletes' daily expenses during the competition," he said.

Earlier this year, 156 athletes from 21 sports were selected to attend preliminary training programs, most of which were held outside the capital. The national wrestling association and the cycling association gave up their Asian Games bids halfway through the training program, saying they would not be able to meet the council's medal winning targets. (yan)