KONI tightens criteria for sending teams to Asiad
KONI tightens criteria for sending teams to Asiad
JAKARTA (JP): Due to the deepening economic turmoil, the
National Sports Council's Asiad task force has decided to combine
the three categories of sports set to compete at the 13th Asian
Games in Bangkok in December into only one.
The task force chairman, Muhammad Hindarto, said yesterday:
"Only sports organizations that can reach the top four in Asia by
the end of July have a chance to compete at the Games."
The council announced Tuesday three categories for the 22
sports, based on their chances of winning medals. The first is
badminton, boxing, karate, tae kwon do, tennis (if world ranked
20 Yayuk Basuki plays), weightlifting and windsurfing. Beach
volleyball, canoeing, fencing, rowing, sepak takraw, swimming,
wrestling and wushu make up the second group while cycling,
equestrian, gymnastics, indoor volleyball, judo, shooting, soccer
and track and field are in the third category.
"We should not consider the possible medal winners because the
council only has a limited budget to send athletes to the Asiad,"
Hindarto said.
Hindarto, who is also the council's athletes development
deputy, said that athletes being groomed for the Asiad were
expected to reach their peak performance in August.
"Their standard must equal Asian records," he said.
But national shuttlers will have to reach their peak in May at
the Thomas and Uber Cups.
"After reaching their peaks, either in May or August, they are
expected to recover soon before being groomed to reach their peak
again in December for the Asiad," Hindarto said.
"Athletes who fail to reach their peak in August will have to
bury their dreams of competing in the Asiad," he added.
However, Hindarto said that the athletes who will be excluded
from the Asiad squad still had to prepare for the 1999 SEA Games
in Brunei Darussalam.
Hindarto also said that his department would keep financing
the long-term training from its 1998/1999 budget.
"So far, we only have Rp 379 million to finance the training.
But we'll finance it with the next period's budget," he said,
declining to mention the figure. (yan)