The Indonesian Volleyball Association (PBVSI) is readying a proposal to the Indonesian Sports Council (KONI) to allow the men's indoor volleyball team to participate in training for the upcoming 16th Asian Games in China.
"Later this week we will submit our written proposal to KONI and the State Sports and Youth Ministry. Last week, we mentioned the plan to *KONI chairwoman* Rita Subowo," PBVSI athlete development chief Heyzer Harsono told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
Training for the games is set to take place at a training center, to be launched officially on Feb. 1 as the final training ground for athletes taking part in the games.
Indonesia's male indoor volleyball team won gold at the recent Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Laos, which served as one of the registration criteria for admission to the Asia Games training center.
The team, which was also a gold winner at the 2007 SEA Games in Thailand, is expected to make a gold hat-trick in the 2011 SEA Games.
"Despite not having enough potential to gain any medals at the Asian Games, we believe our men's volleyballers need start preparing for their gold target at the SEA Games next year," Heyzer said.
In Asia, indoor volleyball is mainly dominated by China, Japan, South Korea and Iran. At the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, S. Korea won gold, China brought home silver, and Saudi Arabia snatched the bronze.
The Indonesian men's indoor volleyball team ranked sixth in the Asian Championships in the Philippines last year, while their closest competitor in the Southeast Asian region, Thailand, ranked 13th.
KONI chairwoman Rita Subowo was previously quoted by several local media outlets saying "They fulfill the criteria but they do not have any potential to get medals *at the Asian Games*.
"If the medal-winning potential was not among selection criteria, *indoor volleyball* might be included *in the training center*. After all, we want them to maintain gold at the SEA Games next year."
Nonetheless, KONI deputy chief Hendardji Supandji, who will be in charge of the training center, said, "We welcome their initiative, but there is only a slim chance they will get approval".
So far 98 athletes in 17 sports (including track and field, archery, weight lifting, badminton, beach volleyball, bowling, rowing, sailing, wrestling, karate, wushu, tae kwon do, fencing, tennis, aquatics, chess and cycling) had registered for the training center, Hendardji said.
The Asian Games are scheduled to take place in Guangzhou, China, from Nov. 12-27, and will include events in 42 different sports.
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