Sports council meets set budget for Asiad
Sports council meets set budget for Asiad
JAKARTA (JP): Financial constraints no longer threaten
Indonesia's preparations for the 12th Asian Games in Hiroshima
next month, a top official of the national sports controlling
body (KONI) says.
KONI executive chairman Soeweno said yesterday the sports body
had met the set budget of Rp 3 billion (US$1.38 million),
following a last minute commitment from a group of entrepreneurs.
A group of five businessmen who requested anonymity injected
Rp 1.6 billion ($738,300) to KONI last month, cutting the deficit
to Rp 1.4 billion ($646,000). The funds will be needed to send
the national athletes to Hiroshima and cover their daily expenses
during their stay at competitions, which run from Oct. 2 to 16.
Soeweno refused to mention the exact amount of the additional
funds, saying that he would first report it to KONI chairman
Surono.
"We hope to receive the funds before the first embarkment of
our contingent on Sept. 25," said Soeweno.
The sports body set a total budget of Rp 6.5 billion ($3
million), with more than a half of the amount used to fund the
training sessions and try-outs of the national athletes.
Surono is scheduled to swear in the national team today, which
will likely be slimmer than the corp of 151 athletes that was
originally expected.
Albert Papilaya and Hendrik Simangunsong, national top boxers
who had been groomed to compete in the Asian Games light
heavyweight and light middleweight divisions respectively, will
be among the sideliners.
Chairman of the national amateur boxing body (Pertina) Paul
Toding sprang a surprise by dropping both pugilists from the
boxing team, blaming them for their TKO defeats in a local
tournament in Cuba recently.
With two members quitting the squad, there will be only five
boxers representing Indonesia in Hiroshima. They will return from
their one-month Cuban stint next week.
Boxing expert and former Asia champion, Syamsul Anwar,
criticized the hasty decision, saying that Pertina had squandered
a golden chance of winning medals.
"Our boxers have better chance in upper divisions such as
light middleweight and light heavyweight than in lower classes,"
Syamsul said.
He added that Paul had exaggerated the losses. "Cuban
standards are beyond compare to those of Asian," he said.
Hendrik and Albert have donned the national colors in almost
all major tournaments for the last five years, including the 1990
Asian Games in Beijing, the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and the
World Championships in Bangkok last May. (amd)