KONI gears up for SEA Games
KONI gears up for SEA Games
JAKARTA (JP): As the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand approach, the National Sports Council (KONI) has become more serious about managing the preparations.
KONI yesterday announced that it had formed five supervising teams to help KONI monitor the progress made by athletes from 26 sports who are training for the Games, scheduled for Dec. 9-17 in Chiang Mai.
The teams will work under the command of the Indonesian SEA Games project manager Ari Sudewo, who is also KONI deputy chairman.
KONI's training director Hindarto told reporters yesterday that one supervising group will manage six sports while the other four will each be responsible for preparing five sports.
He added that the teams will be grouped according to their disciplines. Self defense sports such as judo, taekwondo, pencak silat (Indonesian martial art), boxing and fencing, for example, will be put in one group.
Hindarto said that an intensive program to improve athletic fitness will be administered between April and June, followed by a physical evaluation of the athletes.
Another program to improve their technical skills will be carried out in July. By August, all the athletes should have undergone some tryouts both at home and abroad.
The results of the tryouts will then be evaluated by KONI, which will not hesitate to weed out the poor performers.
"There is also a possibility that Indonesia will not take part in some SEA Games events should the athletes prepared for the events fail to meet KONI's expectations," Hindarto said.
Each SEA Games-bound athlete is entitled to Rp 3 million to finance his or her preparations for the Games.
Weightlifitng
Asian Games bronze medalists Fatmawati and Supeni will spearhead Indonesia's campaign at the SEA Games women's weighlitfing competitions, which will be contested for the first time at the region's sporting meet.
Fatmawati, who will compete in the 54kg division, and 50kg Supeni have joined the 12-strong team groomed for the Chiang Mai's Games. Indonesia's women will not, however, field candidates in three out of nine weightlifting events at the SEA Games.
In the men's division, Indonesia will likely be forced to rely on those who performed poorly during the Asian Games last year. Coach Madek Kasman has picked 24 lifters to join the centralized training session in Bogor, West Java, for the SEA Games.
All the men's and women's lifters will have their first testing ground in July at the Asian championships in Pusan, South Korea.
Indonesia, the long-time weightlifting powerhouse in Southeast Asia, won five golds, two silvers and two bronzes in the last SEA Games in Singapore two years ago. (arf/amd)