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.