Indonesia looks ahead to Muscat 2010 // Thu, 20 Nov 08
Indonesia’s beach teams are looking forward to their next challenge when Muscat hosts the biennial Asian Beach Games in 2010.
Slamet Susanto, head coach of the beach volleyball team, called for a continuous training regime to help build the athletes’ fighting spirit for the next games.
“As for beach volleyball, grabbing the gold medal was the fruit of a long period of preparation,” Slamet said on the sidelines of an event to celebrate Indonesia’s success at last month’s games in Jakarta on Friday.
Bali hosted the inaugural Asian Beach Games in October, in which Indonesia topped the medals tables with 23 gold, 8 silver and 20 bronze medals.
Indonesia’s beach volleyball teams collected a single gold thanks to the men’s pairing of Koko Prasetyo Darkuncoro and Andy Ardiansyah.
The pair’s victory in Bali is the most recent in a series of triumphs by the athletes who, according to Slamet, first teamed up in 1990.
Muscat 2010 will see a drop in the number of sports, from 17 in Bali to 12. While some sports have been discarded, beach volleyball will feature in the next games.
Slamet said tougher challenges lay ahead. “Every participating country will surely up their performances. As a matter of fact, during the recent Beach Games, beach volleyball featured the best teams in Asia-Pacific, like those from China, Kazakhstan and Thailand,” he said, adding that the host Oman would be among their fiercest competitors.
Veteran surfer Tipi Jabrik, who was in charge of organizing the surfing event at the Bali Games, said he was optimistic Indonesia could continue its domination in Muscat.
“Compared to the rest of the participants at the Bali Games, Indonesia is still the leader,” Tipi said.
Indonesia’s surfers grabbed three gold medals in the aerial event as well as men’s shortboard and team challenge.
“We are not talking about Asia anymore. We are among the best in the world,” he said, adding that Japan would continue its tradition as a strong contender.
The Bali Beach Games featured around 4,000 athletes from 43 of 45 Asian countries competing for 65 gold medals.
Regional rival Thailand finished a distant second in the medal tables, with 10 golds, while China took third with six golds.
On Friday, the government announced details of the cash bonuses it will allocate for Indonesia’s medal winners. Bronze medalists will win Rp 25 million, silver medalists 50 million and gold medalists Rp 100 million.
“We are very proud and pleased being the winner of the first Asian Beach Games in Bali. The bonuses are our token of appreciation for what they did,” director of the Bali Asian Beach Games organizing committee Rita Subowo said.