Sports associations show low motivation

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's SEA Games training director Djoko Pramono said not all sports organizations taking part in the training programs for the upcoming SEA Games are highly motivated.

"This could be observed by the inconsistencies in motivation shown by officials and athletes at most sports organizations. It was also found that most motivation is below standard," Antara quoted Djoko Wednesday.

Djoko gave an example of a certain sports organization which has already conducted training but uses facilities that are below the training standard. "At the athletes' dormitory, the facilities are not suitable for training. Moreover, I did not see any benches there."

According to Djoko, in order to motivate training, the athletes' spirits need to be stimulated.

"Particularly when facing Thailand, which has been Indonesia's main rival, our athletes must stimulate their fighting spirit for events contested. Thailand's superiority is in athletics, swimming, gymnastics and shooting," Djoko said.

Djoko gave squash as an example, where the players are not pushed during training. He said Indonesia has never shown good performances in squash competitions.

"In the preliminary matches, Indonesia concedes defeat because our level of playing is far below that of countries where squash has become a major sport, such as Malaysia."

Referring to athletes withdrawing from training, Djoko said he will personally approach the sports organizations concerned with those athletes.

It was reported that three cyclists and five pencak silat (martial art) athletes have withdrawn from training.

The three cyclists are brothers Herry Janto and Hengky Setiawan, and Tubagus Mohammad Maulana. They left the training center because they wanted to concentrate on their work.

"It is a pity that the cyclists and pencak silat athletes left training at a time Indonesia is aiming to overtake Thailand as the overall champion title," Djoko said.

Thailand won the overall champion title in the 1995 SEA Games in Chiang Mai by grabbing 155 gold medals. Indonesia was a distant second with 77 golds and the Philippines with 33 golds. (lnt)