RI sends early signals to SEA Games rivals

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia is all set to reign supreme again in the 18th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand, next year.

"We are determined to continue to be the region's strongest sporting powerhouse. There is no way Thailand can dislodge us from the pole position again as they did when hosting the 13th Games at home in 1985," National Sports Council (KONI) president Surono stressed here on Tuesday.

Surono made the remarks when presiding over a coordinating meeting with several national sports associations at KONI headquarters in Senayan, Central Jakarta.

He instructed all the national sports associations to prepare early for the Chiang Mai games so Indonesia would not be forced to swallow the bitter pill of defeat as it was in 1985.

Indonesia's supremacy in the biennial sporting celebration, having emerged as the runaway champion since its debut in the 1977 Games, came to a halt when the "perennial champion" was forced to play second fiddle by the highly charged and motivated Thai contingent, who fought tooth and nail to take the number one spot in the final medal tally from the incumbent Indonesia.

Surono specifically named three sports, swimming, track and field, and shooting, as the events that Indonesia should dominate in the country's quest for the top spot.

"The three sports offer the highest number of golds. That's why I underline the importance of Indonesian athletes' grabbing as many gold medals as possible from swimming, shooting, and track and field."

He said if Indonesia completely rules the roost in these three sports, the overall championship title will once again be Indonesia's.

In Chiang Mai, track and field offers 43 gold medals, swimming 38 and shooting 34.

At the Hiroshima Asian Games earlier this year, Indonesia miserably failed to even win a single gold medal from the three sports. In fact the overall tally of the Indonesian contingent in the Asiad was quite embarrassing -- with a meager collection of three golds and a handful of silvers and bronzes. Indonesia finished 11th, far below the established powers, China, South Korea and Japan.

Indonesia even finished below Malaysia, the SEA Games rival it usually easily subdues when it comes to the regional sportsfest. The fact that Malaysia took ninth place with four gold medals, only serves to illustrate further how much of a debacle the Hiroshima Asiad was for Indonesia, which sent a contingent of 100.

Despite this pronounced embarrassment, Surono put on a brave face, saying that no matter how dismal Indonesia's showing in Hiroshima was, the athletes should not be blamed as they had done their best. He suggested looking to the future and using the Hiroshima failure as a hard lesson for improvement.

"Now let's concentrate on the SEA Games which is on the threshold. We are out to continue our long-standing tradition as the highest medal collectors. Without a shadow of a doubt I'm quite optimistic that we can make it," Surono said.

He said that having captured the SEA Games overall championship eight times out of a possible nine, Indonesia is certainly not willing to take a back seat. (bas)