KONI urges research, modern techniques

Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The National Sports Council (KONI) has urged sports organizations to improve their research and development (R&D) divisions in an effort to boost overall athletic performance.

Kusnan Ismukanto, KONI's chief in charge of research and development affairs, told reporters after a meeting with the various sports organizations on Wednesday that they had come to a mutual understanding in how to make way for improved performance in the future.

Analysis of relevant data, according to Kusnan, is an important undertaking before a program is set up.

Kusnan said that the organizations would be encouraged to hire professional consultants and coaches for assistance in developing their athletes, and that KONI would try to provide a limited sum of money to help with the finances.

"We all agree that it would be 'fatal' to embark on a program without working from proper data and research," said Kusnan, adding that some people relied simply on intuition in their work.

He was accompanied by KONI's deputy secretary general Sri Sudono Sumarto and Dr. James Tangkudung, a science commission member.

Kusnan said that the urge to seek more of a role for research and development was consistent with KONI's campaign to enhance athletic competitiveness in international competitions through the "Indonesia Rises" program.

The program, which was unveiled after Indonesia's poor showing in multi-event sporting showcases in the last five years, will entail development of the top 100 athletes from a select number of sports with the aim to boost Indonesia's medal count in international tournaments, particularly at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar.

The program is under the supervision of the athletic development department at KONI.

Kusnan said that the sports organizations needed to stop running things the "old-fashioned way" in developing athletes and start making use of readily available modern technology.

With reference to the recent death of Indonesian boxer Antonius Moses, Kusnan said advanced technology, such as an enzyme blood test, should have been used to measure a boxer's physical capacity to receive punches. It is used by most other countries and can prevent most fatalities in professional boxing.

Moses died about a week after he was knocked out by Kaichon Sor Vorapin of Thailand in a non-title bout on Jan. 13, to add to the grim list of fatalities in Indonesian professional boxing, which has seen seven deaths since 2000.