Reduced competitiveness blamed on lack of stars

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.