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Jakarta Post

RI squad backs off medal hopes, citing venue delays

Indonesia’s Southeast Asian Games squad decreased its medal target on Wednesday, citing missed practices due to delays in completing venues in Palembang, South Sumatra

Agnes Winarti (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, October 27, 2011 Published on Oct. 27, 2011 Published on 2011-10-27T08:00:00+07:00

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ndonesia’s Southeast Asian Games squad decreased its medal target on Wednesday, citing missed practices due to delays in completing venues in Palembang, South Sumatra.

“We will persist with our overall target of 155 gold medals. However, 135 is more realistic, considering the condition of the venues at the moment,” Indonesia squad captain Tono Suratman said here on Wednesday after meeting members of House of Representatives Commission X overseeing sports.

Indonesia — once a regional powerhouse — lost its dominant position in the Games after 1999. As the host of this year’s event, the nation aims to reclaim the overall champion position by winning at least 120 of 579 gold medals on offer.

To fulfill its ambition, Indonesia plans to send 1,059 athletes and around 500 officials to the 26th Games, scheduled to run from Nov. 11 to 22 in Jakarta and Palembang.

Indonesia is relying on winning gold medals in several sports, including pencak silat, in which the nation expects to win eight gold medals, kempo (five), paragliding (five) and track and field (10).

“A longer period for trial events at the venues, a month or two, would have been better [for athletes]. Now they only have a week left,” Tono said.

Two weeks before the Games kick off, five venues, including those for aquatic sports, shooting and billiards, are still not available for trial events. Workers in Palembang have been rushing to finish the venues, although some electronic equipment has yet to arrive.

The Indonesian SEA Games Organizing Committee (INASOC) has yet to decide whether the shooting venue will be at the Jakabaring Sports Complex in Palembang or at the Bung Karno Sports Complex in Senayan, Jakarta.

Much interior work remains to be finished at the newly built semi-indoor shooting range at Jakabaring, including a final paint job and installation of the range’s lawn flooring and competition equipment.

“The [SEA Games] technical delegates will inspect it today. A decision will be made [Thursday],” INASOC chairwoman Rita Subowo said.

Meanwhile, equipment for the rowing tracks in Cipule Lake, West Java, including docks and floating balls, is still waiting to clear customs in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta.

“Indonesian Rowing Association [PODSI] chairman [Ahmad] Sucipto is still making efforts to accelerate the [customs] process. We expect that everything will be cleared by the end of the month,” Tono said.

Ahmad was unavailable for comment.

Indonesia has hosted the SEA Games four times since its first bow at the biennial event in 1977. However, 2011 marks the first time that organizers decided to split the Games between two cities, assigning 20 events to Palembang and 22 to Jakarta.

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