Indonesia has hopes for 19 golds
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Based on a medal assessment conducted by sport organizations, Indonesia has a good chance at winning between 18 and 19 gold medals at the 2002 Asian Games, a national training director has said.
"Given our evaluation of the athletes' progress during training, we have a good chance at winning between 18 and 19 golds. That means we would surpass President Megawati's expectations," Imron ZS told Antara on Monday.
He was referring to the President's meeting with the athletes in July, when Megawati announced that she expected Indonesia to bring home 15 golds from the Asian Games, which will run in Busan, South Korea, from Sept. 29 to Oct. 14.
Indonesia grabbed six golds to finish in eleventh place among 42 participating countries at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok.
The National Sports Council (KONI), which is responsible for the athletes' preparations, has decided to send 100 athletes to compete in the 20 sporting events in Busan.
Imron refused to mention the sports in which the team would probably be winning medals.
"I can't mention them as that would affect the athletes," he said.
Imron said if he specified the sport or events at which athletes stood a good chance at securing a medal, then the participants might suffer from psychological pressure.
"On the other hand, if athletes are said to have less than good medal prospects, they may lose their drive to win," he said.
"This affects athletes' mentality," he added.
Taking into consideration the country's past medal record at the Asian Games and the level of competition it will face in the next round of games, Indonesia can expect golds from badminton, cycling, karate, rowing, weight-lifting and yachting.
Commenting on the results of the recently concluded Indonesia Open badminton championship, which witnessed a number of national training members flop in their campaign, Imron said that he was still confident about their prospects in Busan.
The home side took two of the five gold medals up for grabs through Taufik Hidayat in the men's singles and Bambang Suprianto/Minarti Timur in the mixed doubles.
The most deplorable miss at the Surabaya meet, which was the final tryout prior to the athletes' trip to Busan, was the defeat of the world's number one pair of Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto.
But Imron brushed aside assumptions that the failure might carry on to Busan, saying that they would need to readapt to each other after having been apart for some time.
"I'm convinced that they remain the world's best and have a very good prospect at winning the gold medal at the Asian Games," he said.