Sepak takraw may appear in Olympics

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."