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)