Preparations begin for next year's SE Asian Games
JAKARTA (JP): As the 14th National Games (PON) came to an end on Friday, preparations for next year's 19th Southeast Asian Games began.
Indonesia, smarting from its humiliation in Chiang Mai, Thailand, last year, has vowed to regain its overall title. The PON were expected to serve well as the gauge of the possibility of a better performance at the 1997 regional games.
The Indonesian Amateur Track and Field Association is one of the first sports bodies to start working. It has selected 106 athletes, many of them young talent, to take part in the one-year national training program for the SEA Games.
Among the recruits listed is Ruwiyati, 1995 SEA Games gold medalist in the women's marathon. She recently said she would refuse to don the national colors for the next SEA Games after being barred from running in the PON marathon by the national games organizing committee.
Veteran men's marathon runners, Eduardus Nabunome and Ethel Hudson are also listed. The new talent includes men's high jumper Nunung Jayadi, 10km walk specialist Sutrisno and Supriyati, the PON sensation in the women's 5,000m.
Nia Sarinastiti Regar, the association's spokeswoman, told The Jakarta Post yesterday that the athletic body will decide which is the most effective pattern of training, a centralized or a decentralized program, on Oct. 7.
"We are considering opting for a decentralized program because many athletes perform better through this method. Some coaches, however, have a different opinion," she said.
The association has set a target of winning at least 10 gold medals in next year's SEA Games. In Chiang Mai, Indonesia managed to win seven of 45 golds on offer, plus eight silvers and 10 bronzes.
Other sports
The Indonesian Volleyball Association has named 30 male and female spikers for the SEA Games training program. Spikers from Jakarta, East Java, Central Java and Yogyakarta dominate the roster.
An official of the association and a former national player, Liem Siau Bok, told Antara that the association is eying a double victory in the sport.
Indonesia earned only a bronze medal through its female spikers in the 1995 SEA Games, a stark contrast to the one gold and one bronze it won in the 1993 Games in Singapore.
"Thailand, Singapore, Philippines and Malaysia remain tough teams to beat in volleyball," Liem said.
The Indonesian Amateur Boxing Association will also start a national training stint for young boxers for the Games.
Executive director of the association, Imron ZS, said that the boxing body is considering a breakthrough program by recruiting talent from the military to fill the shoes of bantamweight, lightweight and heavyweight boxers, who have been on the decline recently.
Imron said that SEA Games are not the final target of the grooming program for new talent. "We look ahead to the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok and the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney," he said.
In pencak silat, Indonesia's traditional gold mine in the SEA Games, regeneration has given a new headache to the sport's governing body ahead of next year's regional event. During the PON, senior athletes ruled the roost in the competitions.
Chairman of the association, Eddy M. Nalapraya, said that he wanted to see young talent compete in the SEA Games although none of the younger athletes took any medals in this year's PON.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian Yachting Association recruited 55 PON gold medalists for the national selection rounds for the SEA Games, which are to start on Oct. 1. Raymond Kotambunan, secretary-general of the association, said that only 22 athletes will finally go to the SEA Games.
The association will hire a British coach for the national training program. The coach is expected to arrive here in February or March next year.
"Based on our experiences, bringing in a foreign coach will be cheaper and much more effective than sending athletes abroad for tryouts," Raymond said. (yan)