PON begins in frenzied ceremony

PON begins in frenzied ceremony

JAKARTA (JP): The 14th National Games (PON) was ignited in a
hectic opening ceremony at the packed Senayan stadium yesterday.

But Donald Pandiangan was likely the only one to sweat in the
grand celebration, which was held on a cool day in the usually
hot, populous metropolitan city.

Donald had to overcome a case of nerves before lighting the
cauldron with his flaming arrow, to the delight of some 90,000
spectators and 13,000 participating athletes who filled the
100,000-seat stadium.

The flame lighting attraction came shortly after President
Soeharto declared the Games open.

"I was nervous. I felt like I had returned to competition,"
the 51-year-old archer said afterward.

The four-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist coached the
national women's trio to an historic silver medal that ended
Indonesia's Olympic medal drought in Seoul eight years ago,

Ironically, the Seoul story repeated itself for Donald when at
least three doves who happened to perch on the cauldron were
roasted by the flame. The birds were among thousands of pigeons
released during the ceremony.

The International Olympic Committee chiefs endorsed last year
the idea of ending the traditional release of doves at the
Atlanta Olympics opening ceremony, acquiescing to mounting
protests from environmentalists and animal lovers that followed
the roasting of doves in Seoul.

Aside from the unexpected incident, Donald, dubbed Indonesia's
Robin Hood, completed his task almost flawlessly.

He lit his arrow with the torch carried by former track stars
Purnomo and Emma Tahapary. A string guided the arrow to the
cauldron in a carbon copy of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics opening
ceremony.

"We have anticipated any failures by installing a remote
control inside the cauldron," said Kusnan Ismukanto, the deputy
official in charge of the ceremony. The remote control was
designed to ignite the flame in case Donald missed his mark.

He added that the device was installed only two hours before
the ceremony began. The organizers also filled the cauldron with
paraffin in place of fuel, as planned.

Organizers used the help of seven rain masters to keep the
clouds at bay. A heavy rain poured on the capital four hours
after the opening ceremony concluded.

Attraction

As President Soeharto and Vice President Try Sutrisno stepped
on to the podium, 6,000 students formed a configuration of the
two leaders' pictures. The configuration was followed by "Selamat
Datang", a welcoming greeting.

The arrival of 4,915 sportsmen and women from the country's 27
provinces soon followed, as they made a lap around the track in
alphabetical order according to the name of their province,
except hosts Jakartans, who marched in the rear.

The PON, which will run until Sept. 20, contests 35 sports
with 509 gold, 509 silver and 599 bronze medals on offer.

A cultural performance involving 1,500 students blended the
traditional martial art pencak silat with traditional dances and
gymnastics in choreography composed by Sentot Sudiarto from the
Jakarta Art Institute.

Meanwhile, during the National Sports Day celebration at the
Merdeka Palace earlier yesterday morning, Soeharto urged sports
officials to become self-sufficient through a beneficial
partnership with the business community.

"The development of sports requires an abundance of
facilities, which needs a lot of cash. The government has a very
limited capability to build such facilities because we are now
focusing on other sectors," the President said.

He acknowledged that the partnership between the sports and
business communities has worked well so far, but said that a more
extensive degree of cooperation will be needed in the coming
years.

The 19th Southeast Asian Games here next year will be the
first Games to be fully funded by the private sector. A
consortium of Indonesian businesspeople led by Soeharto's son
Bambang Trihatmodjo has agreed to cover the Games budget of Rp 70
billion (US$31 million).

The President said that the country's economic achievement has
given a boost to national sporting activities and suggested that
sports officials take advantage of the conducive climate to
develop sports nationwide.

"Pushing economic development does not necessarily lead to
ignoring development in other sectors. Instead, successful
economic development propels success in other fields," the
President said.

The President awarded Bintang Jasa Utama medals to the men's
badminton doubles team of Ricky Subagja and Rexy Mainaky, who
earned Indonesia its sole gold medal in the recent Olympic Games.

Initiated in 1983, National Sports Day is in commemoration of
the first National Games (PON) in Surakarta 48 years ago. It has
marked the opening of PON since 1985. (amd/yan)

Medals -- Page 11