RI sports turn to overseas training

RI sports turn to overseas training

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Sending athletes overseas for training is an option many
sports organizations are forced to resort to, given the poor
development programs at home, according to a sports official.

The Indonesian Swimming Association (PRSI) and the Indonesian
Gymnastics Association (Persani), are two sports organizations
planning to send athletes abroad in a bid to improve their
performance in preparation for upcoming regional games.

The PRSI will be dispatching 11 swimmers to the United States
and one to Australia, while Persani will send 10 gymnasts to
Romania for a two-year training program.

Asep Sulaeman, Persani secretary-general, said the costly
overseas program was imperative, given the discouraging
development program at home.

"We should think of hiring foreign sports consultants to help
design a blueprint for gymnastics development.

"A consultant is necessary to work out a training and
development infrastructure for the sport. We need to implement
regular gymnastic meets, set up training and professional
development programs for coaches as well as athletes," he said.

The 10 gymnasts, shortlisted from the recent National Games in
Palembang, will depart to Romania later this month. The training
program is expected to improve their abilities in meeting the
country's medal target in future tournaments, particularly in the
2005 South East Asian (SEA) Games.

"Well, we have to admit that we do not have a concept for
gymnastics development yet, so our achievements have not been
good," he said.

Inadequate gymnastics facilities, poor pre-competition
practice schedules, and a lack of regular meets, coaching
development programs and professional evaluation schemes are
among those problems that needed a holistic solution, he said.

"As we will face the SEA Games next year, the Asian Games in
2006 and another SEA Games in 2007, we have no choice but to send
our gymnasts overseas to be trained so they can match their
rivals from neighboring countries," he said.

Indonesia grabbed two gymnastics golds in the 2003 SEA Games
in Vietnam, contributing the bulk of the country's gold tally.

The gymnasts are also expected to share new techniques and
skills with fellow athletes when they return.

Meanwhile, PRSI secretary-general Abdurrahim Napitupulu said
as the organization was unable to provide optimum development and
training programs to its athletes at home, sending their swimmers
to overseas training camps was necessary.

"We have clubs and provincial PRSI chapters. We also have
regular meets, but not enough," he said.

In the 2003 SEA Games, Indonesia grabbed only one gold in
swimming.