Indonesia may field smaller team in Asiad
Indonesia may field smaller team in Asiad
JAKARTA (JP): The National Sports Council is considering a
sizable cut in the Indonesian team for the Asian Games in Bangkok
in December due to many sports' poor preparations.
The council official in charge of athletes' development,
Muhammad Hindarto, said yesterday that only five out of 21 sports
organizations selected to conduct training sessions for the Games
had made progress.
"As of this moment only athletes from track and field,
badminton, weightlifting, shooting and tennis have assured
themselves of places in the national contingent for the Asiad,"
Hindarto said.
He said the sluggish preparations of all but the five above
sports bodies had caused worries over their chances to bring home
medals in the quadrennial event.
Some sports organizations have complained about financial
shortages to finance their centralized training sessions, but
Hindarto said such an excuse was intolerable.
"We set the schedule and program a long time before the
economic recession. Then officials of the sports bodies agreed to
cover half of the training expenses.
"They cannot just breach their commitments and leave us
scrapping their athletes from the national team. That's unfair,"
Hindarto said.
He said the sports council had disbursed subsidies for the
sports organizations before the training stint for the Asian
Games officially kicked off in February.
Indonesia's preparations for the Asiad have been estimated at
at least Rp 15 billion (US$135,000). One fifth of the amount has
been covered by the government.
As if to add insult to injury, some of the sports
organizations which failed to begin their training programs on
time have also failed to provide the sports council with their
regular reports, according to Hindarto.
"It's too bad because this make us totally blind as to their
performance," he said.
The sports council announced in February that Indonesia would
take part in 21 sports, including soccer, cycling, boxing,
rowing, canoeing, karate, sepak takraw, wushu, swimming and
archery.
The final lineup of the Indonesian team will be announced in
November.
Despite the slimmer contingent, Hindarto said Indonesia could
improve on its performance from the last Asiad in Hiroshima
because only potential medal winners would leave for Bangkok.
Then Indonesia's 151-strong team won three golds, 12 silvers
and 11 bronzes.
"The most important thing is that we participate and improve
on our previous achievement, not necessarily become the number
one nation," he said. (emf)