Indonesian hopefuls for Asian Games to take preliminary tests at Jatiluhur

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

All national athletes selected for the Busan, South Korea Asian Games 2002 in September will gather for a week at Jatiluhur reservoir in Purwakarta, West Java starting Monday in a bid to "correlate mission and vision between KONI (National Sports Council) and its affiliate bodies."

"We are going to undertake a great task at the Asian Games. For such an important event, there should be a common vision among the officials of both KONI and all the individual sports organizations," Ahmed Solihin, KONI's public relations officer, told The Jakarta Post, on Sunday.

"Our mission is to go to Busan with the nation's interest at stake. Through sports we will strive for the sake of our country's image.

"The vision is clear that we are looking to improve our performance in Asia," Ahmed said.

The Busan 2002 Asian Games is scheduled for Sept. 29 to Oct. 14 this year. Indonesia brought home six gold medals from the last Asian Games in Bangkok four years ago.

The seven-day workout in Purwakarta, about 100 kilometers east of here, should feature 171 athletes from 17 sporting disciplines as shown in the list KONI produced last December.

But Ahmed said the number would be less, given that some of the athletes are currently away for overseas training.

He also ensured all home-based athletes would join the program. "During our coordination work with the sports organizations, we have been assured of no-absentees. None of them has mentioned unavailability."

The number of participants could have increased by eight if KONI had not suspended its approval of the bodybuilders proposed by PABBSI, which oversees weightlifting, powerlifting, and bodybuilding.

The training camp, which Ahmed said administers seven different types of fitness tests, is to assess the physical fitness of the Busan candidates. Training director Imron Z.S. has insisted that the athletes should reach 60 percent of the required level of fitness, otherwise face elimination.

However, Ahmed did not appear to confirm that all those failing would automatically be disqualified.

"It does not necessarily go that way. We just want to know about their physical and mental conditions," he said. "This will be the first test and will be followed by another."

Ahmed also played down criticism that the workout would be lavish and expensive using government funds allocated to KONI. He said KONI has received sponsorship from state satellite company Indosat, to conduct the training camp. Ahmed would not disclose the amount of the sponsorship, nor the amount being spent on the training camp.