SEA Games victory brings smiles but frowns remain

Higher, faster and stronger. The Jakarta Post's sports desk, Robert Soelistyo, Primastuti Handayani and Lukman Natanegara, assesses Indonesia's sporting year and pick out some of the most prominent winners and losers.

JAKARTA (JP): If regaining its overall title at the SEA Games in October was the target touted to justify sports development in Indonesia this year then we can wear big smiles in recognition of the fact that it was achieved.

But if we look at individual sports -- especially soccer and badminton which usually take center stage here -- we see there was no progress. We can even say Indonesia was left way behind other southeast Asian countries let alone countries elsewhere in Asia, particularly in the world's most popular sport.

Elimination in the first qualifying round of the 1998 World Cup shows that there is something very wrong with the Indonesian soccer scene.

The losing streak was followed by substandard performances in other Asian championships, and defeat in the final at the SEA Games to archrival Thailand further proved how domestic soccer had lost ground to foreign rivals.

Ever since Azwar Anaz took over the helm of the country's soccer governing body almost a decade ago, soccer has never reached the heights, let alone respectability. Indeed, glittering performances by hooligans have been more noteworthy. Almost all soccer matches, whether they were in regional or local tournaments, never mind the National League, seemed to be marred by hooliganism.

Badminton

It is true that Indonesia controlled the badminton courts at the SEA Games by sweeping all the gold medals on offer, but in the most prestigious competition, the All-England, which Indonesia once dominated, our shuttlers went home empty handed.

In the Grand Prix series played in 20 countries and the finals in Jakarta, only the men's doubles won the most medals with eight. The men's singles won six and the women seven, results less impressive than in 1996.

The 1997 World Grand Prix Badminton finals have just ended. The winners of the tournament proved that they are indeed the best at their sport.

China can rightfully claim to be the world's strongest badminton nation as it won four of the five titles on offer. Sun Jun won the men's singles title, beating compatriot Dong Jiong while Ye Zhaoying defeated archrival Susi Susanti of Indonesia.

Ge Fei/Gu Jun were still unbeatable in the women's doubles while Liu Yong/Ge Fei also demonstrated their dominance in the mixed doubles.

Indonesia retained a modicum of pride by holding on to the men's doubles title. Candra Wijaya/Sigit Budiarto buried the ambition of the Malaysian pair Cheah Soon Kit/Yap Kim Hock to take revenge for when the Indonesian juniors beat them in a thrilling final of the World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, in May.

The results mean the new chairman of the Badminton Association of Indonesia, Subagyo Hadi Siswoyo, who is also the Army's deputy chief of staff, will have to work harder than he might have expected to improve the standard of national shuttlers' play.

Of the 16 men's singles shuttlers competing at the event, eight came from Indonesia. They were Hariyanto Arbi, Indra Wijaya, Marlev Mainaky, Ardy B. Wiranata, Alan Budikusuma, Hendrawan, Hermawan Susanto and Budi Santoso.

None of them reached the semifinals. So the pressure is on the national coaches to improve their play, particularly as Indonesia is aiming to retain the Thomas Cup and win the Asian Games gold medal in 1998.

It also proved that being in the world's elite does not guarantee that they are necessarily as good as their rankings.

Our shuttlers first of all need to improve their physical fitness. Most of them wilted whenever they had to play a rubber- set.

However, the country's men's doubles are still the strongest in the world. Indonesia has Candra/Sigit and seniors Ricky Subagja/Rexy Mainaky, the 1996 Olympic gold medalists.

Both pairs will be the backbone of Indonesia's Thomas Cup team.

In the women's singles, the 1992 Olympic gold medalist Susi Susanti failed to win her seventh title in the tournament although she is the only female shuttler to have won the title six times.

However, Susi's plan to have children may have to be delayed as the country still needs her. Other female shuttlers are still unreliable in major events.

Junior Mia Audina, the 1996 Olympic silver medalist, failed to cruise to the semifinals as expected. The 18-year-old shuttler must practice harder, as she still made many unforced errors in critical points, and throw away her spoilt-brat attitude.

She must also learn to analyze her rivals every time she finishes a match.

Subagyo, who was elected the association's chairman at the national congress last month, must work harder with his new staff to prepare the shuttlers for next year's events.

He must improve the athletes development programs and recruit more coaches, including physical trainers, to boost the shuttlers performances.

Subagyo must also send more juniors to Grand Prix series, instead of just seniors, to give them more experience of international competitions.

This will be hard to do due to the country's economic situation. He will have to work harder to find more sponsors to finance the tournament trips.

Subagyo will also have to look for new talent in the association's 27 provincial branches, especially women.

Will Subagyo be able to learn from the former officials and improve our shuttlers performances in the upcoming years? Indonesians expect him to produce more stars but they will wish him good luck in his new job.

Tennis

The other sport played on courts, tennis, did much to make up for the poor showing of other sports in the international scene as shown by success both in the SEA Games and more prestigious international competitions.

This year will go down as one of the most controversial ever for the Indonesian Tennis Association as, for the first time, the country's number one women's tennis player, Yayuk Basuki, declined to compete for her country.

But her decision to concentrate on reaching the world's top 20 rather than compete at the 19th SEA Games here in October not only brought her success. It meant other national players were also able to taste victory.

Although Yayuk climbed to number 20 she was not the first Asian to reach the elite. Japan's Naoko Sawamatsu had reached the world number 14 position in 1995, six place higher than Yayuk and fellow Japanese Kimiko Date made the top ten.

However the Indonesian public still admires her for attaining a higher position that at any time previously in her career.

Even without Yayuk, Indonesia unexpectedly defeated Thailand in both the men's and women's team events at the region's biennial gathering.

Young players Wynne Prakusya, Liza Andriyani and Wukirasih Sawondari and senior Irawati Moerid Iskandar proved that world rankings meant nothing compared to their great determination to win.

Liza and Wukirasih beat world-ranked 37 Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand in the team and individual events respectively.

The men's team of Andrian Raturandang, Suwandi, Bonit Wiryawan and Sulistyo Wibowo overcame the Thai squad which had Paradorn Srichaphan and the Philippines with its star Joseph Lizardo to win the team gold after trying for 10 years.

Their victory in the SEA Games is a good basis from which to prepare the young players for the 13th Asian Games in Bangkok next December.

The association, which has staged national selection tournaments every six months since 1995, is rearranging its selection system.

Instead of training the eight best players of each sex, the association will now only pick five male and five female players to improve efficiency.

Andrian, Bonit, Sulistyo, Suhendar Dinata and newcomer Yusmawan Fahmi will represent the men's side while Wynne, Wukirasih, Irawati, Eny Sulistyowati and Mudarwati will play on the women's team.

The country's best male player, Suwandi, was excluded from the national team as he failed to qualify from the selection tournament.

The association's National Team Board official, Benny Mailili, said that Suwandi was not fit to compete in a team event as he always failed to overcome the emotional pressure.

Yayuk, who ended 1997 21st in the world rankings, had agreed to team up for the Asian Games.

In the Davis Cup, Indonesia failed to overcome New Zealand in its Asia/Oceania Zone Group I match in April but the country still stays in the group.

In the Federation Cup, Indonesia returned to the World Group II after beating Chinese Taipei in March. Last year, Indonesia had to fight through the qualification stages after losing its matches.

However, our female players, without Yayuk who declined to play on clay, failed to overcome Italy in July's World Group II playoff tie.

Indonesian players' achievements in international events recently also showed that their standard has risen.

Andrian, for example, reached the final of the Asian Championships in Taipei earlier this month before succumbing to a South Korean player.

The association, which hopes to win medals at the Asian Games, has every reason to be proud.

It succeeded in both of its two objectives: to win gold medals, and to groom the young players for tougher tests on the international tennis circuit.

Contract bridgeb

Contract bridge, which was Indonesia's pride for many years took a back seat this year as it lost its dominance in both the Asia-Pacific region and on the world scene. Indonesia did not even qualify for the Bermuda Bowl, the most prestigious men's team event in the world.

Indonesia first qualified for the Bermuda Bowl in 1973 and appeared again the following two years. In 1981, 1983, and 1985 Indonesia once more entered the fray as it did in 1993 two years ago in Beijing.

The association, which celebrated its 40th anniversary on Dec. 12, achieved its highest accolade when it finished second in the World Bridge Teams Olympiad in Greece last year.

The Indonesian Contract Bridge Association seems to have lost interest of late in providing the media with information about bridge competitions either at home or abroad. For example a national level championships which saw almost all Indonesia's world-rated players taking part was not publicized prior to the event.

An observer of this brain sport quipped that many officials in the association were mere lapdogs, waiting for the chairman's command; If the chief keeps silent about a tournament, then so do the lower officials. That was the case with the East Java Prasidha Open championships in last September in Surabaya where Denny Sacul, Eddy Manoppo, Ferdy Waluyan, Hengky Lasut, Santje Panelewen, Franky Kawur, Bert Polii and Munawar Sawiruddin were in action.

Golf

Despite the fact that an abundance of golf courses have sprung up in the last five years, the country once again failed to produce a national champion who could hold his own on the international scene.

Indonesia has always been high on lists when it comes to deciding where to host international tournaments but, as has been the case for many years, the winners of almost all the major international tournaments this year were foreigners.

There is no knowing when a local will repeat the 1989 exploits of Kasiadi from Surabaya who rewrote golf history by becoming the first local player to win the Indonesian Open title.

Two of Indonesia's leading pros, Kasiadi and Maan Naasim from Sawangan Golf and Country Club, were given the chance to venture onto the Asian scene thanks to sponsorship from Indosat. They success was mediocre; they came nowhere near winning any of the six legs of the 24 in the Asian Omega Tour in which they competed.

Chess

While many sports in Indonesia struggled to improve their standings in 1997, this was not the case with chess.

Chess in Indonesia showed stirring progress this year with more people becoming interested in the cerebral sport.

This was in line with the wish of the chairman of the Indonesian Chess Association, Akbar Tandjung, who always wanted the sport to become popular at the lowest village level.

"I believe that we can develop good players in rural villages and not only in big cities. But we can achieve this aim only if we popularize chess throughout the villages in Indonesia," Akbar said.

One of the most prominent achievements has been Grandmaster Utut Adianto increasing his elo rating from 2,615 to five or ten points higher.

He achieved this by winning his opening match on his debut appearance at the world championships held early December in Groningen, the Netherlands.

He recorded a 2-0 victory against Chinese GM Wang Zhili before losing to tournament favorite GM Peter Svidler of Russia 0.5-1.5.

Djamil Djamal, the secretary of the Indonesian Chess Association, told The Jakarta Post that it was still not known what Utut's elo rating would be once the new rankings are announced after the conclusion of the championships.

"We will learn the result from FIDE (the world chess governing body) who will publish their report in early January. I am optimistic that Utut's elo rating will increase by between five and 10 points," Djamil said.

Utut was representing the East Asia and the Asia-Pacific zone at the world championships. The competition was attended by 100 of the world's best chess players. The winner will face FIDE world champion GM Anatoly Karpov.

Indonesia has four grandmasters, Herman Surediredja. Ardianysah, Utut and Edhi Handoko. Utut has the highest elo rating among the four players. Herman's elo rating is 2,245, Ardiansyah's 2,475 and Edhi's 2,470.

Another achievement, admittedly over the last two years, has been the creation of three International Masters, five Fide Masters and three GM Results.

The three IMs are Ruben Gunawan, Denny Yuswanto and Bobby Kurniawan, four of the five FMs are Hamdani Rudin, Awam Wahono, Kasmiran and Kifly Tusnali, and the three GM Results are Ruben, Ivan Situru and Kifly.

"All ten players have received recognition from FIDE. We hope to create more IMs, FMs and GM Results next year," Jamil said.

This year also saw two international events staged in Jakarta. The first was the appearance of Judith Polgar, a grandmaster from Hungary, against local woman players in August and the Clash of the Titans between Utut and Karpov in November.

Both Judith and Karpov won their tournaments. For the local women players and Utut, the competitions were good experience for them not only to show off their skills but also to improve their technique.

Karpov said that the Indonesian players had great potential and only lacked experience.

"If Indonesia wants to improve its players' ability, the best way is to send them overseas to compete in international tournaments," Karpov said after his 5.5-3.5 victory against Utut.

In early December, the chess association sent four top young players to compete in the world youth championships in Cannes, France. The four players competed in the 10, 11 and 14-years-of age categories.

The four players (three boys and one girl) were Taufik Hallai, Susanto Megaranto, Bagas Prama Ananta and Evie Lindiawati.

Of the four Taufik and Susanto did the best, coming 7th and 8th respectively in their -- the youngest -- category.

"Taufik and Susanto's success has proved that Indonesia can get its players to the top of the world youth rankings," Kristianus Liem said in Cannes, where he was accompanying the young players.

Autosports

Three different automotive world championships were staged in Indonesia this year -- a leg of the World Rally Championships in Medan, North Sumatra, a Motorbike Grand Prix and Superbike race, both held at Sentul International Circuit. Local drivers and riders found their world-class competitors very hard to beat.

In neither the Motorbike GP or the Superbike race, held at the international-standard circuit, were Indonesian competitors able to break into the top ten.

However, there is hope in one direction. Ananda Mikola, 16, showed he is one of Asia's leading Formula Three drivers with the potential to break the Europeans' domination, and is getting closer to his ambition of becoming the first southeast Asian Formula One driver.

In the rally held in North Sumatra for the second consecutive year, local drivers' results demonstrated that they are developing. They were able to finish in the top 10 in the lately organized championship.

Sentul international circuit, located near Bogor, which was inaugurated by President Soeharto and whose board of directors includes top government dignitaries, was certified by the world's automotive controlling body as a Formula One circuit.

"But we will not be able fulfill many Indonesians' dream and organize a F-1 race here in the very near future as it will require millions of dollars to fulfill," circuit director Tinton Suprapto says.

According to Tinton, Ananda's father, "I would rather prepare one local driver in F-1 first and then later host such a prestigious race, albeit with skyrocketing costs."

In professional boxing, since the fading of Elly Pical in the late 1980s, there has been practically no one able to match his success in the International Boxing Federation's junior bantamweight division.

Elly won the world title in 1985 and held the crown for three years before Thailand'S Kasiao Galaxy ended his career in a bloody battle at Senayan stadium.

Indonesia has never again seen the likes of such a classy professional fighter.

In the amateur ring, the President's (International Amateur) Cup, which was rated among one of the world prestigious event for at least a decade after its inauguration in the 1970s, showed once again that it is no longer as attractive as it once was.

Track and field

In track and field Indonesia has to admit that its athletes are far behind other Southeast Asian countries.

At the SEA Games Malaysia surprisingly finished first, winning 16 of the 44 gold medals on offer, seven silvers and five bronzes while favorite, and defending champion, Thailand was pipped into second place with 15 golds, 13 silvers and seven bronzes.

Host Indonesia won eight golds, seven silvers and 12 bronzes to finished third.

The country particularly has to thank Army sergeant Supriati Sutono, who streaked away to gold in the 1,500m, 5,000m, and 10,000m events and broke three SEA Games records.

Supriati, who trained on the Pengalengan plateau in West Java won her first gold in the 1,500m by clocking 4 minutes 21.50 seconds, well ahead of Yu Fang Yuan of Malaysia in 4:24.46 and Saipin Suetrong of Thailand (4:25.43).

In the 5,000m Supriati again broke Yu Fang Yuan's hope of winning the gold after finished first in 16 minutes 11.60 seconds. Yu clocked 16:18.12 to finish second and Mar Win Win of Myanmar was third in 16:38.40.

In the 10,000m, Supriati completed her middle and long- distance supremacy by bringing home the gold in 34:02.26. Yu had to swallow another bitter pill as she only finished second with 34:18.67 while Mar Win Win was third with 35:09.84.

The Indonesian Amateur Athletics Association groomed some short-distance runners in Houston, Texas, for about three months. But unfortunately the athletes did not demonstrate their best form in the biennial event.

On the other hand, some athletes groomed at home did reach their peak at the Games.

Eduardus Nabunome and Ruwiyati closed the track program by winning both marathon golds in men's and women's. Eduardus clocked two hours 20 minutes and 27 seconds to win the gold while Ruwiyati finished first by producing 2:46:20.

Compatriot Ester Sumah also contributed a gold in the women's 800m after clocking 2:06.72.

But the sprint events, which were dubbed the most prestigious, were won by Thailand and Malaysia.

Vissanu Sophanich won gold in the men's 100m dash while compatriot Vechaphut Worasit won the men's 200m's.

Malaysian mother Shanti Govindasamy surprisingly won both the 100m and 200m golds.

The Indonesian association needs to work harder if stands any chance of winning any golds in the 13th Asian Games where the competition will be much tougher than in October.