Mega opens Junior Students Games

Eva C. Komandjaja Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri -- who missed an opportunity to send off the Indonesian delegation to the Athens Olympics on Sunday, as she decided to extend her minor pilgrimage to Mecca -- officiated on Tuesday at the opening ceremony for the third annual Junior Students Games at Ragunan Sports Complex, South Jakarta.

The Junior Games, which is held yearly by the education ministry in conjunction with Independence Day and National Children's Day on July 23, will run from Aug. 8 to Aug. 18.

Megawati was accompanied by Minister of National Education Abdul Malik Fajar and National Sports Council (KONI) chairman Agum Gumelar during the ceremony.

The 10-day competition will see 1,350 elementary school students from 30 of 32 provinces across the nation taking part in 10 events: track and field, gymnastics, swimming, table tennis, badminton, volleyball, pencak silat, sepaktakraw, soccer and bridge.

Only two newly formed provinces -- the Riau Islands and West Papua -- were unable to participate in the games.

"We want to seek new sports talents from among the young students competing in the games, so we can train them from an early age. It is our hope they will become great athletes," Malik Fajar said in his opening speech, while adding that the games was part of the ministry's youth development program.

Apart from athletic medals, winners will receive presidential invitations to commemorate Independence Day on Aug. 17 at the State Palace.