Whither sports development in Indonesia?

Novan Iman Santosa and Primastuti Handayani, The Jakarta Post, Busan/Jakarta

Hendri, not his real name, was stunned upon seeing his idol, shuttler Taufik Hidayat, lose to host player Shon Seung-mo of South Korea in the 14th Asian Games (Asiad) men's team badminton final on Wednesday.

"It's just not fair. It was our best chance to win a gold and they stole it," he grumbled.

His colleagues at a private company in Central Jakarta shared his opinion. The badminton fans were very tensed following the match, which was stopped for two hours after Taufik walked off the court following a linesman's bad call. The match was aired live by RCTI private television station.

Because of the two-hour break, the TV station did not run the match to the end, but it reported updates and gave the disappointing news of Indonesia's loss to the host.

"What's wrong with our country?" Hendri whispered to himself late at night after reading the match results on the running text on another TV station.

Hendri is not the only one to express concern over Indonesia's poor results in the Asiad in Busan, South Korea. By Saturday, the only athletes to win gold medals out of the 100 Indonesian athletes competing at the event were women's tennis team Wynne Prakusya and Angelique Widjaja, windsurfer I Gusti Made Oka Sulaksana and karateka Hasan Basri.

This year's results will not be the worse the country has produced. At the 1986 Asiad, Indonesia only managed to grab one gold, one silver and three bronzes in Seoul. Its best achievement to date was back in 1962 when Jakarta hosted the event and won 11 golds, 12 silvers and 28 bronzes.

Matching even the country's 1998 result of six golds, 10 silvers and 11 bronzes will be difficult for Indonesia, which is relying on badminton and tennis players.

Compared to other Southeast Asian countries, Indonesia is indeed in a poor position. Malaysia has 212 athletes competing at the event and so far has collected five golds, while Thailand with 267 athletes has earned 10 golds. Tiny neighboring Singapore has sent only 96 athletes but has grabbed five golds, while Vietnam with 121 athletes has won four golds.

The four countries aimed higher than Indonesia in their Asiad and Olympics target for gold. Our National Sports Council (KONI), which has most of the responsibility for sports development in the country, still prioritizes regaining Indonesia's domination at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, in which only 10 countries participate compared to Asiad's 44 countries.

KONI has always blamed financial constraints on its failure to develop sports and grooming junior athletes. KONI, therefore, only includes medal-winning-candidates in the contingent and neglects to groom juniors.

Despite being given the responsibility of developing sports, KONI has to raise it own funds to finance preparations for sports events, which is most likely uncommon in other countries. Of the Rp 41.5 billion (US$4.61 million) collected to prepare this year's team, the government only contributed Rp 10 billion.

The rest was raised from private companies. So far, KONI has spent Rp 39.7 billion on training, sending the contingent to South Korea, providing rewards for the medal winners and on promotions for sponsors.

KONI has been working under such conditions for a decade, which makes it difficult for sports organizations to groom younger athletes to replace seasoned athletes when they retire.

The situation is made worse by the scarcity of regular local competitions and the lack of participation in overseas competitions due to financial constraints.

Other countries always include younger athletes on their squads in major events and send them to international events in which they compete as individuals, which is important in providing them with experience.

Badminton coach Sigit Pamungkas has said that he was unable to include junior Sony Dwi Kuncoro on the squad due to KONI's policy of sending seasoned athletes only.

"I can't understand ... Sony is a good player and has potential. His Chinese rivals Lin Dan and Bao Chunlai have made themselves the backbone of the team, while Sony has to spend his days stuck at the dormitory ..." he complained.

"Even though Sony is not competing, if he was there he would at least experience the competitive atmosphere, which would be useful in the future when he competes in a big event."

Sigit is not the only coach to complain about KONI's policy. Other coaches from different sports tried to persuade KONI to change its policy, but to no avail.

If KONI wants to improve the country's sports achievements in the next Asiad in Doha and in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, it must work hard and hand-in-hand with the government.

The SEA Games should serve only as a stepping stone for juniors to achieve better results in bigger events, while seasoned athletes should focus only on the Asiad -- considered the second biggest sports event after the Olympics -- and the Olympics.

If nothing changes, it will be difficult for national athletes to perform on the international stage. And all sports fans like Hendri will be able to say is: "Quo vadis sports in Indonesia..."