T

he next Asian Games will provide Indonesia with a golden opportunity not only to redeem its disappointing run in Incheon, South Korea, but most significantly to empower its human resources to generate a games legacy that can help its national sports thrive globally beyond 2018.

'€œBe a good host as well as competitor.'€ I'€™m sure we would all agree to take that message on board when we host the 18th edition of Asia'€™s quadrennial multisport event in four years'€™ time.

To be a good host means we will see the visiting delegations '€” including the media '€” come, compete and leave with no complaints, be it about accommodation, transportation, communications or hospitality.

To be a good competitor means exerting our utmost collective effort to win as many (gold) medals as possible, to put us in a respectable place '€” not 17th as we found ourselves at Incheon '€” when we say farewell to our guests.

But we may be overlooking another important message, and that is whether we are capable of capitalizing on our home advantage to gain a longer-term goal that would ensure our sporting competitiveness not only in 2018 but also for many years to come.

For a nation with a population of 250 million, being mediocre in comparison to our '€œsmaller'€ neighbors gives us food for thought. What has gone wrong with our sports development?

We came second on the medal tally when we hosted the Asian Games for the first time in 1962, but we have never reached that level since then.

At the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, a biennial multisport event featuring the 11 member countries of ASEAN and Timor Leste, Indonesia, which topped the medal tally between the early 1980s and late 1990s, subsequently lost its crown to Thailand. On several occasions, Indonesia even finished third or fourth on the SEA Games'€™ medal table.

Looking at consistency, China has proved to be a good model. Joining the Asian Games in 1974, the world'€™s most-populous nation emerged with the most medals in 1982. Since then, the country has dominated the event; at the Incheon Games, for example, China won 151 gold medals. China'€™s demographic bonus really scores in sports.

Indonesia may emulate the battling spirit demonstrated by South Korea, whose persistent ambition to beat its former colonial master, Japan, earned it second place in the medal tally in 1986, while the latest Games saw it win a total of 79 gold medals as opposed to Japan'€™s 47.

With 188 athletes competing in 23 of 36 sports, Indonesia took home four gold, five silver and 11 bronze medals to finish 17th among 45 participating countries. The haul represented a missed medal target by the delegation, which had wanted a return of nine gold medals.

The poor showing has also left the country with an inevitable feeling of sporting inferiority when it comes to rivalries between ASEAN members.

Indonesia is languishing below its regional rivals, with Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore ending the 16-day competition in sixth, 14th and 15th places respectively.

Indonesia had gold hopes in badminton, wushu, cycling'€™s BMX, equestrian, taekwondo, bowling, rowing and soft tennis, but only the first two delivered, with the badminton squad giving two and wushu one. The other gold came from track and field due to the efforts of Maria Natalia Londa, who stole the show in the long jump.

The country'€™s soft tennis teams ended up with silver. Rowing, equestrian teams had to settle with bronze while the BMX, and taekwondo teams returned home empty handed.

Leaving behind the pathetic performance in Incheon, Indonesia can look ahead with high hopes when it hosts the 18th Asian Games in four years.

To lift our position on the medal tally, the sports authority has been talking about sending as many athletes as possible abroad for training. Proposals for inclusion in the medal list for some non-Olympic sports have also been on the agenda.

Indonesia may submit the dragon boat, which contributed three of four gold medals won in Guangzhou. Powerlifting, for which Indonesia has a world champion, and pencak silat, the country'€™s traditional martial arts, are also options.

The script may work, but the most important thing is how we use the Asian Games as an occasion to redevelop our national sports for our goals beyond 2018.

We do not want to win as many medals as we can at home only to melt when we compete on foreign soil, as happened in Myanmar.

The Asian Games should build momentum, with all sports stakeholders '€” the athletes, sports organizations, the legislature, corporate, the media and the government '€” being aware of the need to develop sports from riche resources we have.

We do not want the poor buildup to the Incheon Games to be repeated, when athletes cried out for stipends and talked of the late supply of training equipment because of the late disbursement of funds from the government. There should be no further disputes between the National Sports Council (KONI) and the Indonesian Olympic Committee (KOI) over which one is authorized to govern the nation'€™s sports.

The Asian Games should mark a start to efforts to redefine sports development, which includes giving priority to some sports, particularly Olympic sports, which Indonesia can bank on for a long time, well
beyond 2018.