National athletes to meet Habibie for the first time
National athletes to meet Habibie for the first time
JAKARTA (JP): For the first time since taking office,
President B.J. Habibie will next week send off athletes departing
for an international sporting event.
No precise date has been set for Habibie's meeting with the
129-strong team who will don the national colors at the upcoming
Asian Games in Bangkok. The athletes are scheduled to begin
departing on Thursday.
"President Habibie will meet the athletes early in December
but we haven't been told a date," the National Sports Council
chairman Wismoyo Arismunandar said on Friday.
Wismoyo met State Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Agung
Laksnono on Friday to discuss Indonesia's final preparations for
the event, which will take place from Dec. 6 to Dec. 20.
During Soeharto's era, stately receptions for national teams
bound for international competitions became something of a
tradition.
The last courtesy call Soeharto received from a national
sports team came in May, when the national badminton team paid
their respects before departing for the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup
world team championships in Hong Kong. The shuttlers were still
competing abroad when Soeharto fell from office and handed over
power to Habibie.
Next week's date with national athletes will be only the
second sports function presided over by Habibie. The first was
the National Sports Day celebration in Surabaya last month.
Wismoyo said 42 coaches, three doctors, five masseurs, two
physiotherapists and two psychologists would accompany the Asiad-
bound athletes to Bangkok.
The team's director of training, Mochammad Hindarto, said the
contingent would depart in four phases. An advance party of 125
will leave on Thursday on a Boeing 707 chartered from the Air
Force.
Windsurfers and the 16-strong badminton team will leave next
Saturday, shooters will fly out on Dec. 7 and a mixed squad
comprising of karate, sepak takraw and rowing athletes will leave
on Dec. 8. All three groups will be on commercial flights.
One female swimmer, the horse riders and judo athletes will
travel to Bangkok independently from the countries in which they
are currently competing and training.
Hindarto said the council had saved US$22,500 by leasing an
Air Force aircraft, adding that the money would be used to send
local journalists to cover the games.
He complained about the shortage of medical staff accompanying
the athletes, which he said was the result of a small budgetary
allocation.
"Ideally, a medical official would assist athletes from one or
two sports," Hindarto said.
Surplus
The council has raised Rp 10.5 billion from the government and
business community, leaving it with a comfortable Rp 3 billion
surplus.
Indonesia aims to win six gold, 11 silver and 12 bronze medals
in the badminton, karate, tennis, boxing and taekwondo events at
this year's Asiad.
Separately, rowing team coach Dede Rohmat Nurjaya said that
Indonesia's best hope in the sport, Lasmin, had surmounted his
psychological problems and was now ready to go all-out for
medals.
"He lacked self-confidence because of his inexperience in
international events. But we managed to put all his troubles
behind him after giving him extra attention during training and
providing him with a psychologist," Dede said.
The 2.04-meter-tall Lasmin is expected to win a bronze in the
men's heavyweight single sculls. He will also team up with
Muhammad Anwar in the heavyweight double sculls.
In the lightweight event, Indonesia hopes to take medals from
single sculler Jamaluddin and the double scull team of Suparto
and Rahmat.
Dede said China and Japan would be his team's toughest rivals.
Indonesia has hired Dutch coach Diedrick de Boorder to boost
the rowers' performance at the games. (yan)