Whither sports development in Indonesia?

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..."