PON represents a lost chance for young athletes

PON represents a lost chance for young athletes

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The recent National Games (PON) was not only a "lost chance"
for juniors to show their potential, but also creates grim
prospects for Indonesian athletes, particularly in track and
field in the Southeast Asian region, according to a sports
expert, working with the Ministry of Education.

"While there is a lack of competition in nearly every sport in
Indonesia, PON has been a lost chance for juniors to display
their potential," Hans-Peter Thumm told The Jakarta Post in an
interview on Friday.

"If PON wants to make a real contribution to sports
development, the event should be limited to athletes under 21,"
the German said.

Thumm has been working in Indonesia as a consultant under a
cooperative Germany-Indonesia project since 2002.

Thumm said that the fact that many athletes had already
switched allegiances between different provinces spoke volumes
about the trend that the quadrennial national sporting showcase
had been reduced to a dubious "market" for aging athletes to gain
cash bonuses and medals for the highest-bidding province.

The just-concluded PON in Palembang, South Sumatra, featured
30 provinces, with Jakarta reclaiming the status as number one on
the medal table after having been toppled by East Java in
Surabaya during the 2002 Games.

While inspiring performances were few and far between, the PON
became the latest proof that ambition to win as many medals as
possible by provinces had become a priority over real programs to
establish a strong sporting foundation from the youth level up.

"Provinces and their local governments must be aware that
buying experienced athletes shows their inability to nurture
their own talent. This blocks the development for sports in
general," he said.

Speaking particularly about track and field, Thumm observed
that approximately 70 percent of former Southeast Asian (SEA)
Games participants under-performed at PON.

And that, he said, raised questions about their training
process given by their respective provinces.

"Only three athletes have shown a tendency towards Asian Games
standards: Edi Zakaria, Ahmad Sakeh and perhaps Nunung Jayadi,"
he said.

"Others like Junaedi, Ong Kok Hin, Ponsianus Kahol and Dedeh
Erawati could establish a good base for Manila (SEA 2005)," he
said.

The last SEA Games was held in Vietnam in December 2003, while
the next edition of the biennial sporting spectacle in the region
will be hosted by the Philippines in 2005.

Edi, who is the national record holder at 110-meter hurdles,
won gold in a time of 14.16 seconds. His time was a tad slower
than his record of 14.11, which he ran in Athens last month, but
that time pales in comparison to the top Asian and world leaders
who run consistently in the low 13s. The Asian record (tied for
world record) is 12.91 by Liu Xiang of China.

Ahmad and Nunung won gold in the men's 200 meters and pole
vault, respectively.

Ni Putu Desi Margawati, Yurita Ariani, Erni Ulatningsih and
Supriati Sutono, who won gold medals in Vietnam, all performed
worse than their personal bests at PON.

Thumm said with regard to the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar,
it was impossible to detect any young new stars on the horizon at
PON and therefore, he further questioned the Indonesian Athletics
Association (PASI) -- which has no official connection or
coordination with the sports directorate at the education
ministry -- over its inadequate systems to address such issues.

"PON provided evidence again that with regard to potential
within a country of 220 million people, the foundation for
successful athletic program is shockingly small. (Much more work
and coordination is needed) in order to close the gap on the
three leading track and field countries in Southeast Asia:
Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia.

Indonesia could only bring home four gold medals from 2003 SEA
Games compared to Thailand, which boasted 13 gold, then Vietnam
and Malaysia, each with 8.

"If there are no quick and drastic changes in handling
athletics (administration, coaching, training and athlete
welfare) nobody should be surprised if we (Indonesia) are only
beating the likes of Cambodia, Laos, Brunei and East Timor.
Thinking otherwise means simply dreaming," he said.