KONI to checkout Thai preparations

KONI to checkout Thai preparations

JAKARTA (JP): The National Sports Council (KONI) needs to investigate out how strong Thailand actually is. Thailand will host the 18th Southeast Asian Games slated for Dec. 9-17 and has been said to have the greatest chance to become overall champion of the Games.

"We will send a delegation to Thailand to find out their preparations so that we can make our strategy more effective," the sports controlling body chairman Wismoyo Arismunandar said on Wednesday.

Wismoyo apparently takes Sun Tzu's "know your enemy" seriously and decided to make it the backbone of his strategy to beat Thailand in the upcoming sports battle.

For that purpose, Wismoyo said, KONI will also cooperate with Indonesian embassies in other Southeast Asian countries to monitor how the respective countries are girding their athletes.

Wismoyo said Thailand is very ambitious to come out as the overall champion title at the Games.

Host Thailand won the title when Bangkok hosted the 1985 Games and ended Indonesia's winning streak since Indonesia joined the biennial sporting extravaganza in 1977.

Thailand has been seriously preparing itself, particularly in sports often a gold mine of medals such as track and field, shooting and swimming, Wismoyo said. Hence, he added, Indonesia must make a serious effort to outdo Thailand at those three sports.

In response to Wismoyo's plan, Wardoyo Kusumo of the Indonesian Swimming Association said the association was fully aware of KONI's demands for gold medals and would try its best at the Games. "But we cannot promise how many golds we can grab in Chiang Mai," Wardoyo said. (arf)