F

inancial constraints have prompted the National Sports Council (KONI) to review its plan to send athletes to the 25th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Vientiane, Laos, in December.

For the 2008/2009 season, the government has provided only Rp 20 billion (US$1.9 million) for Indonesia's participation in five international events, including the SEA Games, the Asian Indoor Games in Vietnam and the Islamic Solidarity Games in Iran in October.

The other three games - the Asian Martial Arts Games in Bangkok and the 5th ASEAN Paragames in Kuala Lumpur - have already concluded. The funding, channelled through the sports ministry, is far less than the proposed Rp 150 billion.

"We don't know why yet, but I have talked with the sports ministry's secretary and he admitted there was only Rp 20 billion in government funding for the athletes at the ministry," Djoko Pramono, the KONI chief in charge of athletes' development, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

He added the SEA Games contingent would now only include athletes with the best medal prospects.

"We have no choice but to send only athletes who can potentially bring home gold and silver medals," Djoko said.

"Although it'll be a very small contingent, it'll be a high-quality one.

"You'd have to be crazy to see that the money we've been given is not enough," he went on.

"It's easy to send individual athletes, but what about for team sports such as volleyball or basketball?"

Djoko decline to respond to speculation that the sports ministry had spent much of its budget on the rival Top-tier Athletes Program (PAL), leaving the national sports council in limbo.

"We're very grateful that the government, in this case the state ministry for youth and sports, could give us Rp 20 billion to send our athletes abroad," he said. "We will have to be prudent in spending the money."

Sports Minister Adhyaksa Dault launched the PAL late last year in a bid to enhance Indonesia's medal prospects at international events.

However, the program overlaps with a program run by KONI, which used to be the sole authority in preparing athletes for the events.

Djoko said KONI had already spent Rp 3.6 billion for the Asian Martial Arts Games and the ASEAN Paragames.

"There are still three events to go," he said. "Just for the SEA Games, we've allocated about Rp 12 billion. This will allow us to send only 155 athletes in 22 sports, plus coaches, managers and other officials."