Indonesia looks for three golds in Athens Olympics

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta

The National Sports Council (KONI) will send 39 athletes to the Athens Olympics in the hope of winning at least three gold medals, according to a top KONI official.

KONI secretary-general Djohar Arifin said here on Monday that medal hopes would rest not only on badminton but also weightlifting and tae kwon do.

"We have a good chance of winning gold medals in these three sports," he said at his office.

While lifters and tae kwon doins have yet to prove themselves, shuttlers have, since 1992, been the only contenders ever to earn Indonesia gold medals.

However, Indonesian shuttlers will head to Athens against the backdrop of a wane in performance, which culminated in their failure to retain the Thomas Cup in May.

The failure contributed largely to the ouster of Chairul Tanjung, now replaced by Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso as the chairman of the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI).

The 2000 gold medalists are not in the team, either, with Candra Wijaya failing to make the team and Tony Gunawan already changing allegiance for the United States.

Djohar tried to be optimistic, urging the current crop of shuttlers to be inspired by the past team's achievements that resulted in two golds at Barcelona and one apiece at Atlanta and Sydney.

Djohar said Indonesia's weightlifting medal hopes would be strongest in the under-48 kilogram category, while mentioning Satrio Rahadani as the best tae kwon do prospect.

Indonesia's 39-strong contingent is made up of badminton, with 14 players, followed by weightlifting (7), swimming (3), tae kwon do (2), athletics (2), archery (2), tennis (2), judo (1), boxing (1), canoeing (1), rowing (1), cycling (1), shooting (1) and wind-surfing (1).

Some 30 officials will accompany the athletes. The team will be inaugurated officially on Aug. 3.

The majority of athletes will depart for Athens from Jakarta on Aug. 8, but judo and wind-surfing athletes are expected to head to the Olympics directly after their overseas training.

KONI promises Rp 1 billion (US$107,500) in bonuses for gold medalists, plus Rp 500 million and Rp 250 million respectively for winners of silver and bronze medals.

"The athletes are in good shape, but we still need to improve our players' fighting spirit to meet the Olympic challenge," he said.