ISSI, Pertina yet to get training money

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Cycling Association (ISSI) and the Indonesian Amateur Boxing Association (Pertina) have yet to receive money from the SEA Games training budget, more than a month after it was promised.

The two organizations have used their own resources to manage their training programs thus far.

"It does not affect us for the moment but we hope the funds will come soon," Didit Sudijoto, secretary-general of Pertina said Tuesday.

Didit, accompanied by Sofyan Russian, a senior ISSI official, said there was no problem regarding the funds as he believed the National Sports Council (KONI) will compensate all the money spent by ISSI.

He believes the funds for ISSI's training scheme will come, at the latest, by next week.

"We do not know whether KONI has the funds for ISSI but a reliable source said that KONI has not received the cash from the consortium," Didit said.

Both ISSI and Pertina have to bear the cost of coaches' salaries and athletes' pocket money.

A coach receives a monthly salary of Rp 600,000 (about US$290) while pocket money for the athletes is about Rp 300,000 ($145), including a meal allowance and other expenses of Rp 40,000 ($18) a day for each athlete, Antara reported yesterday.

"A local coach gets Rp 600,000 a month while a foreign coach gets $1,500 a month. Boxers get Rp 20,000 a day for meals," Didit said.

Sofyan said that ISSI has to spend Rp 40,000 a day on the cyclists.

Other expenses which have to be met by ISSI and are not guaranteed by KONI include the money to buy cycles. "The training budget does not include the purchase of the cycles and other equipment. This has become an obstacle for us to improve the cyclists' performances as many of our cycles are out of date," Sofyan said.

He added that for the Asian cycling tournament held recently in Taipei, the cyclists had to buy their own cycles. These cost between Rp 4 million and Rp 6 million each.

Meanwhile, ISSI announced that on Dec. 8, the organization will send seven cyclists to take part in the 46-kilometer Pikiran Rakyat mountain race from Bandung to the Tangkuban Prahu volcano in West Java.

"The seven cyclists are Egi Eirin Ismail, Dedi Resdian, M. Handy, M. Basri, Dadang Haris Purnomo, Egi Hariman and Tonton Susanto," Didi Sudijanto, the head of ISSI's tournament committee, said.

Didi said there was no target set for the cyclists in the mountain race since the tournament is only a test.

"We only want our cyclists to show their capabilities," Didi said. (lnt)