KONI seeks Rp 110b for more gold
Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The National Sports Council (KONI) announced a proposal for an expensive three-year sports development program here on Tuesday with the initial aim of a strong showing at the 2006 Asian Games.
Called the 'Indonesia Rises' program, the three-year campaign will cost about Rp 110 billion (nearly US$13 million), according to Djoko Pramono, a KONI official in charge of development affairs.
Djoko said that such an amount of money would be sufficient to develop, train and recruit Indonesian athletes then can perform on a world-class level.
He was accompanied by KONI Secretary General Djohar Arifin Husin.
Djohar said the financial need would be partly acquired via a planned fund-raising drive, which is expected to generate Rp 3 billion a month.
KONI has announced a partnership with PT Metropolitan Magnum Indonesia to raise funds through tickets sales, which is expected to start operating in the first quarter of this year.
According to Djoko, who had made his presentation to the other KONI officials, the development program, which also incorporates KONI's preparation for the Athens Olympics in August and the 2005 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Manila, will entail executing five main priorities for the athletes' preparation.
Indonesia's sporting future has become the main concern following ever more dismal performances by the country's delegations in regional events.
Indonesia, which used to be the dominant force a the SEA Games, has finished in third place in the medal race for three consecutive times with the latest edition seeing the team end up behind Vietnam and Thailand.
Indonesia's medal haul has also showed a declining trend at the Asian Games.
With high hopes of making a turnaround in the next events, Djoko said that the 'Indonesia Rises' program would prioritize the development of the top 100 athletes, and added that the total number was subject to change depending on performance in both training and competition.
There is no time-table about when the project will be officially launched. But Djoko said they would commence as soon as KONI chairman Agum Gumelar approved the details.
Agum is on a business trip to the U.S. and is scheduled to return on Friday.
The second priority would be holding overseas comparative studies for local coaches who in an effort to make them more professional.
KONI has also promised incentives to five potential coaches of 42 sports and urged KONI-affiliated sports organizations to include young, second-tier athletes in competitions.
The program is likely to include a monthly subsidy of Rp 1 million for the athletes and Rp 2 million for the selected coaches for six months prior to their participation in the events.
Moreover KONI would leave the training camp to respective sports organizations, therefore there would be no need to establish a national training camp like in previous years.
The program will also seek to initiate as many local competitions as possible by the sports organizations.
Djoko said that KONI was optimistic that the program could boost the performance of local athletes.