KONI to call up senior athletes for SEA Games

JAKARTA (JP): The National Sports Council (KONI) believes the country will have to enlist the services of senior athletes to retain its supremacy at the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Bandar Seri Begawan in August.

KONI outgoing chief in charge of athletes development, Mochamad Hindarto, said on Monday that topping the Games medal tally was among the mandates from last week's meeting of the national sports community.

"It's not an easy task, however, because at about the same time our best athletes are expected to qualify for the 2000 Olympic Games," Hindarto said.

The SEA Games, to be held in Brunei for the first time, will offer 235 gold medals in 21 sports. It will be held from Aug. 7 to Aug. 12.

Several sports federations, including the Badminton Association of Indonesia, have called on KONI to send second- string athletes to the Games to enable their seniors to focus on the Olympics.

Competition for Olympic berths will also start in August for several sports.

Hindarto insisted one event would not be sacrificed for the other.

"We consider the two events equally important, so we have to excel in both."

He said coaches and each sports federation should now rearrange their programs to help athletes maintain peak form.

"Usually, after reaching the peak, an athlete will drop in form. This can't happen. We must maintain their top form until after the Olympic qualifying events."

Hindarto said KONI could not send second stringers to the SEA Games due to limited preparation time.

"We can drill the 1998 Asian Games veterans in only three months to reach their peak form. But the rest of the athletes will need longer than that," he said.

Recruiting talent from training centers nationwide will be another option for KONI to select athletes for the SEA Games, he said.

Indonesia will compete in 20 sports of badminton, basketball, billiards and snooker, bowling, boxing, cycling, soccer, golf, hockey, karate, pencak silat, sepak takraw, shooting, squash, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, track and field and traditional boat racing.

It will give a miss to bowls, virtually unknown in the world's fourth most populated country.

Hindarto said the Games organizing committee canceled an earlier plan to stage polo without divulging a reason.

He hoped sports organizations would their training programs soon without awaiting instructions from KONI. (ivy/yan)