No Olympics athletes using illegal drugs: KONI

JAKARTA (JP): National Sports Council (KONI) vice chairman Arie Sudewo announced on Tuesday that no Olympic athletes had been using illegal drugs.

He based his announcement on the results of physical and medical tests conducted by the council's sports science commission in March.

"The test results, which included urine and blood tests, were negative. They did not detect any illegal drugs."

KONI plans to stage a second series of tests prior to the Olympics.

"If any athletes are found to be using illegal drugs, I won't hesitate to expel them from the centralized training program. They will not be allowed to compete in the Olympics and I will also send them to a rehabilitation center," he said.

However, Arie encouraged sports organizations not to condemn drug users but ask them to book into rehabilitation centers to recover from their addictions.

"Sports officials are responsible for curing them from drug addiction. Should they recover, they can rejoin the training program," he said. "In the mean time, they must accept international federation punishments."

Speaking of the involvement of the police in the investigation into illegal drug use and trade in the sports community, Arie said KONI needed to coordinate with them.

"They can scrutinize athletes in the training centers or the Ragunan sports school but they must work together with us. We can guarantee the police that we are actively conducting urine and blood tests on our athletes to detect their usage of drugs."

Separately, the Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI) spokesman Eddi Elison said that the organization would welcome the police should they wish to investigate soccer players' involvement in illegal drug use.

"If the police want to investigate players or officials involved in illegal drugs, we'll welcome them. We also want to solve the problem," he said, as quoted by Antara.

However, the association will provide lawyers for players who are being questioned by the police.

"The players have the right to defend themselves." he said.

The association has started to disclose an illegal drugs mafia in the national soccer community by inviting Makassar-based PSM players Kuncoro, Kurniawan and Juniarto Budi and Surabaya-based Persebaya player Mursyid Effendi for questioning.

Kuncoro was convicted of consuming shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine). He said he was persuaded to do so by Mursyid, who later blamed Kurniawan. Kurniawan was banned from the 1999 Southeast Asian Games after being found guilty of taking shabu- shabu. (yan)