Veterans to make up 20 percent of team for Philippines trip

Veterans to make up 20 percent of team for Philippines trip

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Veterans will account for 20 percent of the approximately 500
athletes the National Sports Council (KONI) will send to the 23rd
Southeast Asia (SEA) Games in November.

KONI head of development Djoko Pramono said on Friday the
council had no choice but to send its tried-and-true athletes to
the biennial sporting showcase to be held in the Philippines next
month.

"Some sports organizations do not have any good young
athletes. So we have to turn to the older athletes to represent
the country," he said at his office.

Among the veterans taking part in the event will be 1988
Olympic silver medalist archers Nurfitriyana and Lilies
Handayani.

"They are still good. They won gold medals at the recent Women
Muslim Games in Iran," he said.

Older athletes will be chasing medals in a number of other
sports, including swimming, billiards, volleyball and tennis,
according to Djoko.

Djoko conceded this was a sign that some sports organizations
had failed to locate and train younger athletes to replace the
veterans.

He said this trend was already being seen as far back as the
2000 National Games in Surabaya.

"The said thing is that we have so many talented athletes, but
we don't know how to get the best out of them," he said. "So
these athletes will only remain talents, never champions."

There are currently 656 athletes training for the SEA Games.
That number will be cut to about 500 in mid-October when the
fixed lineup of athletes has to be submitted to the SEA Games
organizing committee in the Philippines.

Indonesia plans to participate in 331 events in 36 of the 41
sports featured at the Games.

The country used to be a dominant sporting force in the
region, but has failed to live up to expectations at the last
three SEA Games.

With Thailand expected to maintain its dominance in the
overall medal tally, Indonesia will head to Manila resigned to
fighting for second place with 2003 champions Vietnam and host
Philippines.

Two years ago in Vietnam, Indonesia finished third on the
medals list behind Vietnam and Thailand, with a total of 222
medals, 55 of which were gold.

Indonesia's disappointing showing at recent SEA Games has been
blamed on its failure to excel in those sports that traditionally
offer the bulk of medals, such as athletics, swimming, shooting
and gymnastics.

But Djoko is optimistic that Indonesia will be able to finish
second on the overall medal table in the Philippines.