RI sends early signals to SEA Games rivals

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)