PSSI pursuing Kurniawan for its SEA Games team

JAKARTA (JP): Top striker Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto is being pursued by the All-Indonesia Soccer Federation (PSSI) for its Southeast Asian Games-bound soccer team.

Coach Andi Teguh said in Balikpapan on Thursday that he expects Kurniawan to join the team two weeks before its departure to the Games in Chiang Mai on Dec. 1.

"We are still waiting for his availability," he said.

Kurniawan is now playing for Swiss First Division League FC Lucerne. He was the former star of the now dissolved Italy- trained under-19 Primavera team.

The 18th SEA Games will be held from Dec. 9 to Dec. 17 in Chiang Mai, Thailand, but soccer competition will start three days before the opening ceremony.

Five ex-members of the Primavera team -- Indriyanto, Bima Sakti, Aples Tecuari, Kurnia Sandy and Anang Maruf -- have joined the 23-manned SEA Games-bound team.

PSSI's training director Bob Hippy suggested to Andi last August that Kurniawan not be included in the team.

"How can he so easily be admitted? The other members of the team struggled hard to pass the selection process before they could join the team. This may arouse jealousy, which could destroy the teamwork," Bob said.

Bob may be right. Even without Kurniawan the team lacks good teamwork, as Andi himself put it.

"We are trying to improve on it," he said.

Andi hopes that within the remaining month of training the team, which has a mixture of senior and junior booters, becomes solid.

The SEA Games-bound team trains under Italian Sampdoria coach Romano Matte and national coach Andi Teguh. Recently it beat Pupuk Kaltim 2-0 and Persiba Balikpapan 1-0 during tryouts. A match against Caltex in Pekanbaru, on Nov. 1, will be the last tryout for the team.

PSSI will announce 20 selected players tomorrow. The team's members will be shortlisted into 18 as required by the organizing committee.

Meanwhile, East Java will provide cash bonuses for its athletes who excel at the 18th Southeast Asian Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Executive chairman of the East Java sports council, Soegondo, announced on Thursday that the incentives, ranging from Rp 100,000 to Rp 2 million (between US$45 to $909), will be awarded to medal winners, record breakers and even to those who fail to shine.

"Gold medalists will receive the top cash prize plus Rp 1.5 million if they set new meet records. A silver medalist will earn Rp 1 million and a bronze medalist Rp 500,000," Soegondo told Antara.

"Even those athletes who leave the Games empty-handed will pocket consolation bonuses worth Rp 100,000 each," he added.

A total of 50 athletes taking part in the centralized training program for the SEA Games are East Javanese.

It was the first official announcement on cash rewards. The National Sports Council (KONI) has avoided promising any bonuses, saying that such a habit does not suit the principles of amateurism.

KONI said last month that it was negotiating a plan with an insurance company to award SEA Games medal winners with retirement insurance. The national sports body has yet to disclose any further information, though it has agreed to give retirement insurance worth Rp 1 billion to each Olympic gold medalist.

But East Java, the country's most populous province with Rp 44.6 trillion of Gross Regional Domestic Product in 1993, has gone a step further than KONI to encourage SEA Games athletes.

Soegondo said that East Java would continue the tradition of giving cash rewards, collected by local entrepreneurs, to its athletes performing well at either the Asian Games or Olympic Games.

"We will give an Asian Games gold medalist Rp 3 million in cash, a silver medal winner Rp 1.5 million, a bronze medalist Rp 1 million and a record breaker Rp 2 million," Soegondo said, adding that a non-medal winning athlete will receive Rp 200,000.

The province will increase the cash bonuses for Olympic medal winning athletes, with a gold medalist earning Rp 4 million, silver medalist Rp 2 million, a bronze medalist Rp 1 million and a new record setter Rp 2.5 million.

Soegondo said that the province's local authorities, councilors and sports body were now finalizing the regulations governing cash rewards. (arf/amd)