KONI says no favoritism in Olympics training
JAKARTA (JP): The National Sports Council (KONI) will not discriminate against any of the 11 sports which are being prepared for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney in September.
Olympic training director Arie Sudewo said on Wednesday that he would not give special treatment for badminton in terms of funding, although it was a priority in the training program. The sport has contributed golds to the country since the sport was featured in 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.
Arie said that equal treatment was given to the other sports because the current training also aimed to prepare the athletes for the 2001 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Kuala Lumpur.
"We should be realistic. We will treat all sports equally. But badminton received more attention because it has bigger chances to earn gold in the Olympics training,"
"Besides, the Olympics training is part of the training program for the 2001 SEA Games. Perhaps the other 10 sports will not yield medals in the Olympics, but their athletes could win in the SEA Games. The athletes have been our assets," he said.
KONI invited Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) to a meeting on Monday when it offered to cooperate in the badminton training preparation in order to boost the shuttlers' motivation. KONI will advise PBSI on the scientific constituent in the training.
PBSI said that it needed about Rp 12 billion (US$1.62 million) to finance the training preparation from May 1999 to September this year. The amount includes financing the shuttlers in pre- qualifying rounds.
Arie said that KONI would disburse the Rp 6.9 billion of training fees proportionally to fulfill the needs of all sports. The budget allocation would be discussed with the sports organization, he said.
"The money is given in accordance to the athletes' needs. For example, we are considering to grant a request from the Indonesian Yachting and Windsurfing Association (Porlasi) to hire a foreign coach.
"But we won't approve such a request from PBSI, because it should be able to export local coaches to train overseas," Arie, who is also KONI deputy chairman, said.
He said that KONI had yet to receive Rp 4.9 billion from the government to finance the training.
"We have amassed Rp 2 billion from the Gelora Senayan management board and another Rp 500 million to start the training. This amount will last to the end of March. We hope that the government will disburse the money before that time," he said.
KONI is grooming 71 athletes from archery, badminton, boxing, diving, judo, swimming, tae kwon do, tennis, track and field, weightlifting and windsurfing.
Twelve of them -- female judokas Prapti Ningsih and Aprilia Marzuki, male judoka Kresna Bayu, female tennis player Yayuk Basuki and Wynne Prakusya and boxers La Paene Masara, Dedek Chandra, Suwardoyo, Marwan Muling, Steve Binalay, Bara Gommies and Willem Papilaya -- are still competing for Olympic berths in the pre-qualifying round, along with 19 men and 14 women shuttlers invited to join the training.
In 1992, Indonesia earned two golds, two silvers and a bronze to finish a respectable 18th in the medals' standing. In the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, national shuttlers won only one gold, one silver and two bronzes to finish 41st in the medals table.(ivy)