KONI told to not to generalize in regard to field test results
KONI told to not to generalize in regard to field test results
JAKARTA (JP): A sports expert has called on National Sports
Council (KONI) officials to avoid assuming that all athletes
being prepared for the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games are in
poor condition just because they did not do well in field tests.
Paulus Pasurney, who is also an expert at KONI, made the
comment on Saturday following the poor field test results in
physical fitness tests conducted by six sport fields --
basketball, tenpin bowling, boxing, diving, golf and karate --
preparing their athletes for the biennial Games in Brunei
Darussalam.
After receiving the results, KONI officials hastily called the
officials of 20 sports bodies for a series of meetings, pressing
them for more serious training preparation in the next three
months before the athletes compete in the Games in August.
The test results, however, were questioned by officials of
Indonesian Basketball Association (Perbasi). They said national
players Cokorda Raka and Eko Haryanto got poor results but had
reportedly scored well in an earlier test conducted by the
association.
But KONI's head of athlete development, Moch. Hindarto, said
the council would proceed discussing training programs with
coaches in order to intensify the preparation instead of
repeating the field tests.
Paulus told reporters on Saturday that the results did not
reveal the overall condition of athletes of the other 14 sports
bodies.
"If all athletes score the same as the two basketball players,
KONI should panic. The field test is not the last measure. We
will conduct other tests after several weeks of training," he
said.
He said some sports -- including boxing, track and field and
basketball -- had prepared their athletes very well.
"I also supervise national basketball players from the
Indonesia Muda club. During the test, the players did not warm
up. That's why they failed," he said.
He said the first test, which was held last week, had been
modified from its original form. The athletes from the sports
that need aerobics were instructed to run for 3,000 meters, while
the others only had to run for 1,600 meters.
Paulus said he would accompany Hindarto in a discussion with
coaches on May 8. Paulus led Indonesian shuttlers to victory in
the Thomas Cup in 1998 with only two months of preparation.
"I will brief the coaches on how to improve the physical
condition of their athletes," he said.
Track and field
Separately, one more national record in the men's high jump
was conquered on the last day of the two-day National Track and
Field Invitational at Senayan Madya Stadium in Central Jakarta on
Saturday.
Arya Yuniawan, 20, of West Nusa Tenggara scored 2.05m, one
centimeter higher than the old record of 2.04m which was set by
Ketut Widiana here in September 1985.
Arya joined other young stars who set new national records
earlier on Friday. They include Irine Truitje Joseph of Maluku,
who set a record in the women's 200m dash, Kusmiati of Central
Java in the women's hammer, Alia Basalamah of Jakarta in the
women's pole vault and Nunung Jayadi of Jakarta in the men's pole
vault.
Irine, who ran in the 400m, managed to break the national
junior record of 56.04 set by her counterpart from Jambi Lisa
Thenu here in September 1996. Irine clocked 55.79 on
Saturday. (ivy)