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Thank God for Chris John
The year 2009 marks another flop year for Indonesian sports
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he year 2009 marks another flop year for Indonesian sports. We are losing grip on the regional competition of the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in the Laotian capital Vientiane. We are no longer a powerhouse in badminton, with only five titles collected from 10 Super Series tournaments. Forget soccer! We haven’t won international tournaments in decades, and this year is no exception.
The most recent performance at the SEA Games only confirms that Indonesia is moving backward in developing sports compared to our neighbors. Eyeing a third-place finish, the country — which dominated the biennial event from 1977 to 1997, except in 1985 and 1995 — finished fifth after regional powerhouse Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia.
While the four countries above garnered most of their gold medals from the swimming pool, the track or the shooting range, Indonesia failed to focus on those Olympics sports that always offer the most medals.
The woeful result will force new sports minister Andi Alfian Mallarangeng to consolidate better with the whole sports community, especially with the National Sports Council (KONI), to prepare a better team for next year’s Asian Games and more importantly to groom younger talents for the 2011 SEA Games that Indonesia will host.
On the badminton court, Indonesia’s shuttlers have been losing their domination to China, Malaysia and Denmark. Simon Santoso was the country’s sole men’s singles player to win a title in the Super Series, with victory at the Denmark Open in October. Olympics gold medalists Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan could only grabbed two men’s doubles titles at the French Open and Japan Open, while Olympics silver medalists Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir also collected two mixed doubles titles at the French Open and Malaysia Open.
In the Sudirman Cup mixed team championship, Indonesia had to bow out to South Korea in the semifinal. Defending champion China eventually whitewashed South Korea 3-0 in the final to bring home the coveted trophy, adding to the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup they had picked up earlier.
As for the national soccer team, many have given up hope that it will excel even at the regional level. The facts spoke for themselves. A defeat to host Laos at the SEA Games only added to the long list of defeats this year, which also included a humiliating 7-0 loss to Japan in the Asia Cup Under-19 group qualification.
Instead of focusing on the improvement of national team’s performance, the Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI) shocked the world by submitting a bid to host the 2022 World Cup. PSSI chairman Nurdin Halid hinted that the bidding would cost US$24 million — too much for a country that never wins.
However, Indonesia is still fortunate to have Chris John. At least the boxer brought good news to sports enthusiasts with his victories.
The World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight champion successfully defended his title after beating Rocky Juarez of the United States in a rematch in Las Vegas last September. It was his 12th successful title defense since winning the belt from Oscar Leon of Colombia in Bali six years ago.
Chris “The Dragon” John, Indonesia’s third world champion, is tipped to compete as an undercard in
the Manny Pacquiao vs Floyd Mayweather fight on March 13, 2010, Bola sports tabloid reported.
Should that happen, it will be a memorable moment for Chris John, who admires Pacquiao’s achievement in the welterweight division of the World Boxing Organization (WBO). The 30-year-old Filipino just defeated Miguel Angel Cotto last month and has already joined the ranks of the big names in the boxing arena, being touted as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
