Ten sports bodies submit proposals for 13th Asiad
Ten sports bodies submit proposals for 13th Asiad
JAKARTA (JP): Only 10 of Indonesia's 31 sports organizations
have submitted competition entry proposals to the 13th Asian
Games task force here although the deadline for doing so was
yesterday.
Task force chairman Muhammad Hindarto said yesterday that he
and his team would wait until midnight for proposals to come in.
"We'll give the other organizations one (more) week to submit
their proposals," said Hindarto, who is also the National Sports
Council's development program deputy.
The task force will discuss the proposals at its weekly
meeting next Wednesday.
The 10 proposals are from the rowing and canoeing; track and
field; tennis; archery; boxing; bowling; billiards, pool and
snooker; beach and indoor volleyball; sepak takraw and yachting
associations.
Thirty-six sports will be represented at the quadrennial Games
in Bangkok in December in 1998.
Mangombar Ferdinand Siregar, a sports expert and task force
member, said Wednesday the council recommended that 19 of the 31
sports compete for Indonesia at the Asiad.
The 19 sports are archery, badminton, beach volleyball,
boxing, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, judo, karate, rowing,
soccer, shooting, surfing, swimming, tae kwon do, tennis, track
and field, weight lifting and wrestling.
"Only nine out of the 19 sports have a big chance of winning
medals in the Asiad. They are badminton, boxing, cycling, karate,
rowing tae kwon do, tennis and weight lifting," he said.
Siregar predicted that Indonesia would get gold medals in
badminton, karate and weight lifting.
Silver and bronze medals were possible in boxing, canoeing,
cycling, rowing, shooting (double trap) and tae kwon do, he
added.
"The Asiad is also a preparation for the 2000 Olympics in
Sydney. If we have young athletes with potential, we'll field
them in the Asiad before sending them to the Olympics," he said.
Training
Indonesian Billiards and Snooker Association official Azhar
Nasution said the association, which also oversees pool in
Indonesia, would train between six and 10 athletes to compete in
five events.
"They are the eight ball individual and double, nine ball
individual and double, and the three cushion (events). Our
toughest rivals will come from Japan, South Korea, the
Philippines and Chinese Taipei," he said.
Separately, the council's planning and budget deputy, Togi M.
Hutagaol, said he would study all the proposals before finalizing
the Asiad budget.
"We planned to provide Rp 10.2 billion (US$2.9 million), five
months ago, to prepare our contingent for the Asiad. But the
amount will be more now because of the Indonesian rupiah
depreciation against the dollar, and based on the number of
sports to compete in," he said.
The council had predicted it would send about 300 athletes and
officials from fewer than 15 sports to the Asiad.
Togi said the council would also consider changing its
requirements for individual and team events.
"If we send more athletes to compete in individual events, the
cost will be less than if we sent teams," he said.
A shuttler, for instance, would have a better chance to
compete in the Asiad than a soccer team, he said. (yan)