Reduced competitiveness blamed on lack of stars
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
As competitiveness has faded significantly, the Indonesian amateur boxing today could hardly yield future stars as did in the past, former national star Syamsul Anwar Harahap said.
"One major cause to the reduction in amateur competitiveness is the loose control when it comes to the amateurs' entering professional boxing," Syamsul told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Syamsul was commenting on the upcoming Sarung Tinju Emas (Golden Gloves), a supposedly prestigious amateur boxing championship, which in the past used to produce national stars.
"A government regulation says a boxer may step up into professional stage only when he has won a national belt and reached 18 years in age," he said.
"Due to poor enforcement of the regulation, any boxers will turn 'professional' when they want to. This results in the amateur losing grit and competitiveness," he said.
Besides his formidable record in the Golden Gloves with six consecutive wins between 1976 and 1981, Syamsul was also the Asian champion in 1975 and 1977.
Elly Pical is another of the few names who appeared to have been well-shaped in the amateur before winning the world's IBF belt in the 1980s.
Meanwhile, the 2003 Golden Glove organizers announced around 80 national best boxers were set to join the tournament, which is scheduled to be staged in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, from Feb. 2 until Feb. 7.
Bambang Asmanu, secretary-general of the Indonesian Amateur Boxing Association (Pertina), said only eligible boxers were invited to the tournament.
The participants are made up of those who are either finalists of the last two editions of the Golden Gloves, semifinalists of last year's national championship, or winners of last year's junior championship.
However, David Isikiwar of Maluku, the gold winner at the 2001 championship in Padang, West Sumatra, looks set to miss the Banjarmasin meet with national coach Wiem Gomies criticizing the Maluku boxing chapter board of lacking commitment.
"They say they don't have money. Only to send one boxer, they are unable to afford it. How comes?," Wiem, who hails from Maluku, said in disgruntled voices.
Apart from those qualified participants, five wild-card places are also provided, all allocated for the host's young boxers who are considered to have good prospect in the future.
Among the contenders will be 30 boxers who are currently under Pertina's monitoring for Indonesia's bid at the 2003 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Vietnam.
"Seven of them have started their training camp here since early October," Soewardi, a monitoring team member, said.
They are Robby Chandra (57 kilograms), Densius Marfiloes (48kgs), Rionando Butar Butar (48kgs), Daud Jordan (51kgs), Erico Amanupunyo (57kgs), Dastesa Moniaga (48kgs) and Arenaldo Moniaga (51kgs).
Rionando was the gold winner at a tournament in Malaysia last December, where he defeated M. Sanree of Thailand in the final.
"The rest will join the training camp after the Golden Gloves. If they lose, their candidacy will be reassessed. Likewise, new names may be recruited to the list," Soewardi said.