PTMSI congress urged after poor result

PTMSI congress urged after poor result

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The poor performance of the Indonesian table tennis team at
the recent South East Asian Games (SEA Games) has prompted calls
for a special congress to reshuffle the executive board of PTMSI,
the national table tennis governing body.

"We have no other option but to recommend a special convention
for the executive board to account for their jobs," M. Farchan, a
representative of the Central Java chapter, told reporters during
a discussion here on Wednesday.

The discussion, held at the headquarters of the National
Sports Council (KONI), was organized by the Jakarta Sports
Journalists' Association.

Farchan said that as many as 12 provincial organizations had
supported the calls. Among them are all chapters in Java: West
Java, Central Java, East Java, Yogyakarta and Jakarta.

"The number of chapters is more than enough given the fact
that the incumbent chairman (Triyanto Saudin) was selected by a
convention attended by only 13 out of 28 chapters," he said.

A meeting attended by a number of provincial chapters in
Semarang, Central Java, on Nov. 5 set a Jan. 15 deadline for the
special congress.

"We will be waiting for the response in mid-January," Farchan
said.

Triyanto Saudin was appointed PTMSI chairman at the 2000
convention to replace Sjafrie Sjamsudin, former Jakarta military
chief.

The fact that many of his aides then deserted him testified to
his lack of managerial skills. One of the deserters was former
general secretary Faried Rachman, who was present at Wednesday's
discussion as another speaker.

Triyanto, who was invited to the panel but failed to turn up,
came under fire for his "loose" policy in which he had recruited
too many people in his organization.

However, Noeryanto, an observer who formerly served as a PTMSI
official in charge of the development of athletes, said such a
policy should not bother him too much as long as each person
involved in the organization stuck to their respective
commitments.

What should come under most scrutiny, he said, was the
association's dismal mission at the SEA Games, where Indonesia
failed to win a single gold.

Indonesia could only bring home two silver and three bronze
medals. Of the seven golds at stake, five went to Singapore, one
went to Thailand and the other went to Vietnam.

It was the worst performance ever in the regional event by
Indonesia, which used to dominate the sport.

To add to the woeful outing, the men's team crashed out for
the first time in the preliminary round. The competition also
marked another gloomy note: Indonesia lost to a team that it had
never lost to before.

All these factors prompted Noeryanto to conclude that,
"Indonesia is lagging behind its Southeast Asian counterparts".

He pointed to lack of adequate preparation, lack of motivation
on the part of the athletes and the absence of a sound strategy
as the cause to the collapse.