Mega opens Junior

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.