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)