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Jakarta Post

Sportsmanship overshadowed by violence

Embarrassing as it is, the 2016 National Games in West Java is being swamped by a series of violent encounters involving athletes, fans and even the media

Dicky Christanto (The Jakarta Post)
Bandung
Wed, September 21, 2016

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Sportsmanship overshadowed by violence

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mbarrassing as it is, the 2016 National Games in West Java is being swamped by a series of violent encounters involving athletes, fans and even the media.

The latest eruption of thuggery took place during a water polo event featuring West Java competing against South Sumatra on Monday afternoon.

In a video that went viral, the clash started off in the pool during the match.

It appeared as though the two competing teams were involved in some kind of in-pool physical altercation. Organizers eventually decided to postpone the match until both sides had calmed down.

Unexpectedly, the situation deteriorated when the in-pool brawl ignited a surge of violence in the spectators. The violence was directed toward Jakarta’s water polo team and, allegedly, some security officers assaulted the Jakartans.

Disturbed by the incident, the Jakarta contingent is preparing legal moves.

“It was a criminal act. Seven athletes [from Jakarta] were beaten up,” Raja Sapta Ervian, chief of the Jakarta Sports Council told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday, adding that the bruised athletes had received medical treatment.

“There will be no other way for us but to file a report on this,” he said.

The Jakarta contingent will collect evidence related to the incident before filing the report. It also plans to officially report the incident to the National Games organizing committee to get the issue immediately sorted out.

As a witness to Monday’s violence, Fandi Ahmad, Jakarta’s water polo coach, said the brawl started when a group of people, perceived as West Java supporters, threw plastic bottles into the pool while the two competing water polo teams were involved their altercation.

Tensions amplified when the bottles hit some of the athletes from Jakarta, who were watching the match.

“Some of my athletes asked the [alleged] bottle-throwers to desist in their anti-social activities. But what happened next was that they came into our area and started beating up some of our men,” he said.

In response to the incident, host West Java claims that it has taken serious action against the security officers allegedly involved in the violence.

“One thing for sure, we have taken measures against the security officers who got involved in the clash. This has set a very bad precedent,” said Maj. Gen. Hadi Prasojo, chief of the Siliwangi Military Command and one of the leaders of the West Java contingent.

The games’ organizer, Andreas Legawa, said all athletes involved in the brawl had been strongly reprimanded. He further requested the authorities to improve their services during the two-week event.

Elsewhere, a local journalist who published a story on Sept. 16 that mentioned the potential misuse of regional budgets for the National Games has received threats from unknown persons.

The story highlighted Youth and Sports Minister Imam Nahrawi’s statement reminding the organizers to be cautious in using the regional budget dedicated to the National Games in order to avoid misuse.

The journalist plans to file a report with the police.

On Sunday, fans of the Jakarta and West Java soccer teams were also involved in a clash during halftime in a group stage match in Cibinong.

Meanwhile, a number of teams have also staged protests in regards to scoring at the National Games. The judo teams of East Java and Jakarta have decided to boycott the competition in protest over what they see as unfair scoring.

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