In a month’s time, Team Indonesia will head to the Philippines to compete in the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, yet two of its most promising sports — archery and athletics — are facing challenges in last-minute preparations.

Instead of focusing on their final strategy for the biennial competition, Indonesia’s archers must deal with a lack of equipment, with most relying on their own bows and arrows for practice, which started in April.

The problem was revealed during newly inaugurated Youth and Sports Minister Zainudin Amali’s visit to several national training camps at the Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) sports complex in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Friday.

Archery team manager Taufan Tri Anggoro said the team had received Rp 600 million (US$42,751) to fund the training program, which includes gear for coaches, from its initial Rp 1.6 billion proposal for the 2019 SEA Games, which will run from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11.

“Right now, we have already assisted our athletes with the provision of arrows. We can only support them with three dozen arrows per athlete, while ideally, each needs five dozen,” he said.

The team has 16 athletes who are divided into the compound and recurve categories.

Indonesian archery, led by favorite Riau Ega Agatha, is targeted to win four gold medals, a supposed repeat of the team’s accomplishment in the 2017 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur.

However, Asiefa Nurhaenza, who will compete in the women’s recurve, suffered a setback when her bow broke during a trial session in South Korea in early September. For the Philippines’ preparation, she had to borrow a bow to continue practicing.

Used to a pull weight of 42-66 pounds, Asiefa struggled with the borrowed bow, which had a pull weight of 44-66 pounds.

“I had been using [my original] bow since 2015. The federation has ordered the new bow. This is quite irritating. Ideally, an archer needs to own two bows,” Asiefa said, adding the new bow would be used in the games.

Team Athletics, meanwhile, has had to share the venue for its training camp, Madya Stadium in the GBK complex, with a string of other teams and events as part of the GBK management’s policy of renting the space out to
the public.

In a bid to earn more funds for maintenance, Madya Stadium has been rented to Indonesia’s top-flight soccer league Liga 1’s Bhayangkara FC for its home matches. Meanwhile, the management applies no charges for the use of national training camps.

Indonesian Athletics Association (PASI) chairman Bob Hasan has often addressed the matter as he sees the sharing as a problem for the national team. He said he wanted his protégés to focus on practicing without the need to get distracted by limited scheduling.

Madya has been the home of Indonesian athletics for many years.          

“The stadium was built by Pak Sukarno for enhancing the country’s sports. [GBK] has turned into a public service agency [BLU] that must earn money,” Bob said, referring to the country’s first president, during Zainudin’s visit.

“When the stadium is being rented, we can’t do anything about it because of the GBK’s status as a BLU that operates under the Finance Ministry.”

In response to the problems, Zainudin said he promised to accommodate each federation’s needs.

“We will write down these complaints and solve them gradually. We need to be careful so we can work according to procedures. We have to avoid any misappropriation,” he said.

Despite the challenges, both the archery and athletics federations have continued to carry on with whatever they have for the ongoing training programs.

National archery coach Nurfitriyana Saiman said she had fostered a competitive atmosphere within the camp to test the athletes’ endurance as they train from early morning to late afternoon.  

“If, for example, our archers must compete three times a day during a competition, then in a training session, they have to double up the frequency,” she said. “This will allow them to maintain their focus on techniques, [producing] points and endurance.”

Meanwhile, national athletics coach Eni Nuraeni Sumartoyo, who supervises the men’s sprint category, said her runners had been trying to improve their time in the men’s 4x100 meters relay.

“Last week, the team had a test in which they managed to clock 39.8 seconds. The ideal time is 39.5 seconds,” she said. For the upcoming games, the relay team will consist of Eko Rimbawan, Joko Kuncoro Adi, Mochammad Bisma Diwa Abina and either Adit Rico Pradana or Adit Rici Pradana, who are twins.

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