KONI seeks Rp 27.8b for Asian Games

JAKARTA (JP): The National Sports Council (KONI) has submitted to the government a proposed budget of some Rp 27.8 billion (US$2.9 million) to finance the national team's preparations for the Pusan 2002 Asian Games.

The 2002 Asiad is slated to be held from Sept. 29 through Oct. 14 in the southern South Korean port city.

"KONI submitted the proposal to the Ministry of National Education before the Indonesian contingent left for Kuala Lumpur for the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games," KONI's official for planning and budgeting, Togi Mangara Hutagaol told reporters on Tuesday.

KONI will begin an intensive training session for athletes selected for the Asian Games in January.

"We drafted the budget in coordination with officials responsible for athlete development to determine the number of athletes that would qualify for the Asiad," Togi said.

The budget also covers fees for a number of foreign coaches and overseas outings.

Togi acknowledged that the proposal was a rough projection.

"With the government still deliberating the 2002 State Budget with the House of Representatives (DPR), KONI hopes that the proposal will be accepted," he said.

He said the state funds to be used to finance the Asian Games project could be trimmed by establishing priorities of activities.

Interviewed separately, diving coach Harly Ramayani hoped that KONI would prepare its athletes more seriously for the Asiad by having a longer preparation phase.

"KONI should drop its attitude of considering the preparation process as a mere crash program," she told The Jakarta Post. "Such an approach has resulted in our failure in the SEA Games because our athletes did not have enough time to prepare themselves."

Harly also said that she would focus only on grooming young divers for the Asiad.

"I will focus on shaping up Shenny Ratna Amelia because she has the commitment as well as potential to further develop herself," she said.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Karate-do Federation (Forki) will only recruit between two and four athletes for the Asiad and all will compete in the kumite (fighting) event.

"We hardly had a chance to grab gold medals in kata (martial arts), which traditionally were won by Japanese karatekas," said Forki's official for athlete development, Tono Soe'oed.

He said Forki had no plan to hold tournaments to select its Asiad-bound athletes.

"KONI has made it public that those who won gold medals in the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games would be given the opportunity to join the training sessions for the Asian Games," he said.

Forki is also grooming fighters for the Asian Karate-do Federation (AKF) Championships to be held from Oct. 29 until Nov. 5 in Genting Highlands, Malaysia. (nvn)