Sepak takraw may appear in Olympics
By Dwi Atmanta
JAKARTA (JP): Southeast Asian traditional sport sepak takraw received a major boost yesterday in its bid to make its Olympic debut in Sydney in 2000.
The secretary-general of the International Sepak Takraw Federation, Abdul Halim, told The Jakarta Post yesterday that the organization would apply to the Sydney Olympic Games Organizing Committee (SOGOC) for the sport to be given exhibition status.
"We are asking the SOGOC to allow sepak takraw to appear in Sydney as a cultural exhibition," Halim said.
The news come two days after Indonesia's state minister of youth affairs and sports, Hayono Isman, said he wanted traditional Southeast Asian sports to be played on a wider stage.
Two leading Australian sports officials confirmed their assistance for the campaign here yesterday.
The Northern Territory's sports, recreation and education minister, Peter Adamson, and the secretary-general of the Australian Olympic Committee, Craig McLatchiy, met with the federation's president Charook Arirachekranh, vice president Beddu Amang and Halim after watching SEA Games sepak takraw matches at the East Jakarta Sports Hall.
Halim said that during the meeting the Australian sports officials promised to lobby fellow Australian sports ministers to support the federation's bid.
The federation's top trio will visit each of the ministers early next year to further enhance their efforts.
Sepak takraw joined the then Southeast Asian Peninsula (SEAP) Games in 1965 and has since been one of the Games regular medal events.
It was contested in the last two Asian Games, in Beijing, China, in 1990 and in Hiroshima, Japan. in 1994.
The sport will make its third successive Asian Games appearance in Bangkok next year, with four gold medals on offer after the organizing committee decided to introduce a women's division.
Halim said the federation would also suggest the Pusan 2004 Asian Games Organizing Committee keep sepak takraw in the quadrennial games.
But he dismissed the possibility of demanding medal event status at the Sydney Olympics, saying that it would take a long time and much effort before that could be achieved.
He said sepak takraw was now played in 21 countries, including the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, but that was not enough to give the sport a place in the Olympics.
An International Olympic Committee rule says that a sport must be played in at least 55 countries to make it t0 the world's biggest sporting festival.
The sepak takraw competition features a women's division in this year SEA Games for the first time, taking the number of gold medals at stake to four. Each division provides two golds in team and regu events.
While criticism has mounted over many last-minute hitches in the Games preparations, Halim paid tribute to the organizing committee for its all-out efforts to make the sporting event run on time.
"We're lucky that the Games was not postponed although we know Indonesia is now facing economic problems. The opening ceremony was the best I had ever seen."