New archery boss wants to promote family approach

JAKARTA (JP): The newly appointed chairman of the Indonesian Archery Association, Hayono Isman, said he would promote a "family approach" to the athletes in a bid to help them improve their results.

He argued that such an approach was in line with the nature of the sport which he said demanded mental endurance rather than technical skills.

"A hierarchical method is not appropriate to develop athletes who need 70 percent mental preparedness and only 30 percent technical skills to perform at their best," he said after visiting his new office at the Senayan sports complex in Central Jakarta.

"Archers are more vulnerable to nontechnical problems. That's why personal matters must not disturb training programs," he added.

He said he would open his door wide for athletes to air their personal problems if these would affect their performance.

"Any time they face problems, they have to discuss them with their coaches, officials or even with me. I myself will welcome them," said the former state minister of youth affairs and sport.

He said he would invite the eight Asian Games-bound archers and their parents for a dinner at his house on Nov. 30.

Archery was included in the 21 sports Indonesia is to contest at the 13th Asian Games in Bangkok next month after the national women's archery team won a bronze in the Asian Championships in Myanmar last August.

"We have not set a target of winning any medals at the Asiad, because our preparations have not been good enough for the event," said Hayono, who was elected the chief of the archery body late last month.

He said he instead would use his trip to Bangkok to lobby Brunei Darussalam to include archery in the medal events when it hosts the 1999 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games,

Brunei is at present not planning to include archery due to a lack of facilities and human resources.

"If archery fails to appear at the SEA Games, it will hinder the region's archers to succeed in the next Asiad and Olympics," said Hayono, who is also the ex-officio chairman of the ASEAN archery federation.

Hayono said he expected Indonesian archers to bring home a gold from the 2004 Olympics.

"To fulfill the dream, we must at least win a bronze at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Our archers have said they could do it," he said.

The country's top men's archer Hendra Setiawan said he was optimistic Indonesia could win an Olympic gold in the sport if the association continues to employ South Korean coach Lee Jae- hyun for the next three years. (yan)