Sports organizations told to solve problems by March

Sports organizations told to solve problems by March

JAKARTA (JP): The National SEA Games training director Djoko
Pramono has urged all sports organizations to solve their
internal problems before March 1.

Djoko said after a declaration ceremony yesterday that all
sports organizations must be able to gather their athletes and
start centralized training before March 1. Athletes have been
waiting for permission to join training from schools and
employers.

"Frankly I haven't checked how many athletes have yet to
arrive because Lebaran is still influencing numbers. Perhaps in
one or two weeks, I can have complete data on the number of
athletes," Djoko said.

Three male spikers - Imam Agus Faisal (nicknamed Fafa), Loudry
Maspaitela and Endri Oktavinatono - finally joined the training
and are expected to arrive today, he said.

Fafa and Loudry, who work for the state-owned BNI '46 bank,
and Endri, who works for Bank Indonesia, had been waiting for
permission from their offices to join the training.

The volleyball training chief Soetardiono said the three
spikers are expected to join the squad today.

The two banks finally allowed the athletes to join the
training after the Indonesian Volleyball Association's chairman
Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana sent letters to both banks' directors
last month.

Soetardiono said national beach volleyball teams must keep an
eye on Thailand and the Philippines for the Games.

The association is grooming eight male and eight female beach
volleyballers. They are to take part in a selecwion in April
after the Asian circuit in Japan and China. The association will
only pick two male and two female volleyballers.

Djoko said the National Sports Council's Chairman Wismoyo
Arismunandar had sent letters to the minister of education and
culture, the minister of manpower, the Armed Forces chief and the
country's 27 governors requesting permission to allow national
athletes to join the training.

Djoko said women's soccer, women's basketball and men's water
polo are still having problems gathering their athletes together
for training.

Winning

Wismoyo urged all athletes to prepare themselves to take over
the overall title from rival Thailand in the Games, which will be
held from Oct. 11 to Oct. 19 at the Senayan sports complex.

"Victory comes from 70 percent good preparation," he said.

Indonesia lost to Thailand in the 1995 Games in Chiang Mai,
Thailand, grabbing 77 gold, 67 silver and 77 bronze medals.
Thailand won 157 gold, 98 silver and 91 bronze medals.

The 1997 Games will offer 440 gold, 440 silver and 558 bronze
medals from 34 sporting events.

Djoko declined to mention the total number of athletes being
groomed at the training centers.

The council planned to include 1,543 athletes in its training
program but several had withdrawn for school and family business.

The council believes Indonesia would be able to steal the
title from Thailand, despite the absence of the song "We must
win" at yesterday's athletes' declaration ceremony.

The Games training chairman Togi M. Hutagaol said the song
would be played during a ceremony to set up the national
contingent before the Games.

"However, our ambition to win the Games has been included in
the council's chairman speech and in the athletes' pledge," he
said.

Indonesia's best hope is Aprilia Marzuki in the women's judo,
who won two gold medals at last year's Games and read the pledge
at the ceremony participated by 30 sports organizations. (yan)