Sports development 'must put Olympics first'
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)