Sports development 'must put Olympics first'
JAKARTA (JP): Former sports minister Hayono Isman recommended on Wednesday that provincial administrations deal with shrinking sports budget allotments by setting their sights on the most viable Olympic-medal winning disciplines.
Hayono was responding to the 1999/2000 State Budget draft allocating Rp 60.7 billion (US$7.6 million) for youth affairs and sports, a 30 percent drop from last year's Rp 86.7 billion.
"I think relying only on the State Budget won't be enough in developing sports, particularly during the economic crisis," he said.
"The government, in this case the state minister of youth affairs and sports office, should issue guidelines on how to use the money solely to boost priority sports."
Hayono said the government guidelines must refer to the National Sports Council's long-term program Golden Garuda, which aims to shoot Indonesia to sixth on the medals standing at the 2006 Asian Games.
State Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Agung Laksono called on all provinces on Tuesday to financially help national sports development.
Hayono, Agung's predecessor, said sports development must concentrate on sports with the greatest potential to land medals.
"Badminton and archery top the priority list, followed by potential sports which include karate and windsurfing," said Hayono, who is also the chairman of the Indonesian Archery Association.
"I prefer archery not because I'm in charge of the sport here, but because we once won an Olympic medal in archery."
The women's archery trio of Nurfitriyana Saiman, Lilies Handayani and Kusuma Wardhani ended Indonesia's 30-year medal vacuum in the Olympics by winning a silver at the 1988 Games in Seoul. The first golds came at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona in badminton, which was making its debut as a medal sport.
Next on the priority list should be sports in which the country could excel in the Asian Games, Hayono believed. They include track and field and tennis.
Hayono suggested that provinces be assigned a sport for specialization.
"West Java may focus on badminton, Bali on windsurfing, Southeast Sulawesi on rowing, canoeing and traditional boat races."
Archery
Hayono said the archery body had named seven women archers for the centralized training program, starting in February. They will be groomed for Olympic qualifying tournaments this year.
Veterans Nurfitriyana and Kusuma were called up again, along with other seasoned archers Rosena Gelanteh, Hamdiah, Lucia Elisabeth, Dwi Purwanti. A newcomer is Ajeng Wulan.
No male archers were named.
"We consider female archers have a bigger opportunity to qualify for the Olympics than their male compatriots."
The women's archery team is scheduled to compete in the World Championships in Riom, France, from July 22 to July 26, and the Asian Championships in Beijing from Sept. 1 to Sept. 5.
Brunei plans to drop archery when it hosts the 20th Southeast Asian Games in August. Hayono said he would appeal to the Asian Archery Federation to ask Brunei to reconsider.
Brunei is reluctant to include archery because it does not have a federation for the sport and lacks equipment.
The secretary-general of the Indonesian archery body, Udi Harsono, said nine Southeast Asian archery federations had appealed to Brunei to include the sport when it makes its debut as host. (yan)