Sport bodies told to prepare for Games qualifiers

JAKARTA (JP): The National Sports Council (KONI) has urged sports organizations to begin preparations for qualifying events for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, many of which will be held later this year.

Mochamad Hindarto, the council's athletes development chief, told reporters after a meeting to evaluate the country's performance at the 13th Asian Games in Bangkok in December last year, that athletes, especially Asiad medalists, should be trained at designated sports association training camps.

"We'll advise all sports organizations to begin preparing (Asiad) medalists for Olympic qualifying events by March at the latest," he said.

Indonesia won six golds, 10 silvers and 11 bronzes at the recent Asiad. The medals came in badminton, beach volleyball, boxing, karate, rowing, taekwondo, tennis, track and field, weightlifting, windsurfing and wushu events. Before the games, the council had set a target of six golds, 11 silvers and 13 bronze medals.

"We'll also advise sports organizations to prepare second string athletes for the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Brunei Darussalam and the Arafura Games in Darwin, Australia," said Hindarto, who was accompanied by the Asiad contingent's secretary Muhammad Sarengat, training camp chief Albert Thomas Paruntu and his deputy, Subardi Suar.

"Sports organizations must work harder and prepare better for the 2000 Olympics and the 2002 Asiad in Pusan, South Korea. If we won six golds with only one year's preparation (last year), then we'll train athletes for two years and win more golds at the next Asiad," he said.

In comparison, host nation Thailand began preparing its athletes almost immediately after being named as host of the quadrennial event in 1990. It went on to finish fourth in the medals table by winning 24 golds, 26 silvers and 40 bronzes.

Neighboring Malaysia, which hosted the Commonwealth Games last August, won five golds, 10 silvers and 14 bronzes in the Asiad.

"We have to be proud that our athletes were still in the top 10 in Asia," he said.

Citing an example, Hindarto said the men's indoor volleyball team finished sixth after being absent from the Asiad for 12 years, when they finished last.

He also said that two of five sports in which at least one gold had been expected, taekwondo and boxing, had missed their targets.

"But we won unexpected golds on the track and windsurfing," he added.

Hindarto said that some sports associations had left very little time to prepare their athletes resulting in unsatisfactory performances at the Asiad.

"I don't have to mention the associations, but there were five who intentionally didn't follow our guidelines."

Guidelines

He said that one association began preparing its athletes in June, a mere six months before the Asiad was due to open.

"The council's Sports Science and Technology Center distributed training guidelines to the organizations, but many coaches had to revise the programs due to the poor physical condition of athletes under their supervision," he said.

"The athletes had one or two months off after the 19th SEA Games (held in Jakarta in 1997), then when they joined the training camps they were below peak physical condition. It then took many of them almost six months to regain their fitness," he explained.

Hindarto said the council received some financial assistance shortly before the contingent departed for the Asiad, but said that more money was needed earlier in the build up to the event.

"Actually we needed more money to prepare our athletes and to buy sports equipment instead of paying for their transportation and accommodation," he said.

The council received Rp 5.5 billion (US$687,500) from the National Development and Planning Board to finance centralized training programs and transport to the event. It also received Rp 3 billion from the Association of Indonesian Wood Panel Producers (Apkindo) and Rp 2 billion from the Gelora Senayan Management Board. (yan)