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)