INDONESIA GEARING UP TO HOST SEA GAMES

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta July 17 (AMTARA) - Indonesia is making preparations to host the 26th Southeast Asian Gemas (SEA Games) where 10 countries from the region are expected to compete in 44 branches of sports and  vie for 454 gold medals at stake from November 11 to 22, 2011.       The sports affairs minister called on all sport executives to prepare the athletes to be fielded in next November's SEA Games in the best ways possible so that their performance targets would be achieved.          "Executives of all sports branches must prepare their athletes based on their programs to ensure their readiness to face the SEA Games," Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Andi Mallarangeng said after attending a SEA Games 2011 roll call at the Bung Karno Sports Stadium in Jakarta recently.           He said Indonesia must really be ready to show its best performance in Southeast Asia's biggest event, whose organizing would need at least a fund of Rp2 trillion or about 232 million dollars.           "The central government, the municipal government and sponsors must chip in to ensure that the event is a success," Andi said.          Andi and other officials -including Coordinating Minister of Social Welfare Agung Laksono and Indonesian Olympic Committee (KOI) chairwoman Rita Subowo-  have made an inspection of the complex that will house the city's venues for  SEA Games in Palembang, one of the host cities of the event besides Jakarta.          The cost to construct and renovate the games' facilities in Palembang alone is estimated to reach Rp738 billion. The Sports Ministry has only asked the central government to foot Rp250 billion of that bill.          "We are still discussing funding. If we can't get more funding, we will find other sources including from sponsors," South Sumatra Governor Alex Nurdin said.          In order to host the vents, Indonesia has to accelerate its preparations. For this purpose, the technical delegates of the 44 sports branches will meet in Jakarta on July 25.          Sources at the SEA Games Secretariat said here on Saturday that some of the delegates have arrived in Jakarta and observed some venues to be used during the events. The delegates will observe various venues of the Southeast Asian sports competitions in Jakarta and in Palembang, capital of South Sumatra province. The SEA Games events will be held in these two cities.          The efforts to accelerate preparations of the biennial events were supported by the Indonesia SEA Games XXVI Committee (Inasoc).          "We need to accelerate preparations for the Southeast Asian games because we are racing against time,"  Inasoc Chairman Rachmat Gobel said in a coordination meeting here over the weekend.          He said that he appreciated all sides that supported the speeding up of preparations but all should be under the coordination of Inasoc so that overlapping would not take place.          Preparations are going on under the coordination of the Inasco in Jakarta and in South Sumatra (two cities that will co-host the events). Rachmat said coordination should be carried out between organizers in Jakarta and those in South Sumatra including the putting up of banners, billboards and other SEA Games symbols.          "The installations of various SEA Games attributes should remain under the coordination of Inasoc so that they will remain in order," he said.          Various banners and other SEA Games attributes have been installed in various corners of Jakarta and Pelembang, capital of South Sumatra province.          In the meantime, the committee is still running short of field officers to cater various activities in the field. The committee is therefore recruiting volunteers for this purpose. Up to Sunday, it had only succeeded to net 761 volunteers and still lacked about 3,000 field officials.          "Actually, the number of applicants we received for last week selections reached 7,000 but many of them did not show up during the selection process, maybe because it was held during holidays," Iansco chairman for human resources Pusparani HC Hakim said here over the weekend.           She said that the committee would also cooperate with a number of universities in seeking volunteers such as the University of Indonesia, the University of Pancasila, the University of Pelita Harapan, the London School of Public Relations and a number of other campuses.           "We will also cooperate with tourism schools recommended by the ministry of tourism. We hope that would be able to meet the need for volunteers," she said.           Those who have passed last week's selection will begin to be assigned at the technical meeting of the SEA Games which will be held on July 25, 2011.          The 44 branches of sports  will be competed in Jakarta and Palembang on November 11-22, 2011 are 1.Aquatics, 2. Archery, 3. Athletics, 4. Badminton,  5. Baseball, 6. Basketball, 7. Billiards & Snooker, 8. Bowling, 9. Boxing, 10. Bridge, 11. Canoeing, 12. Chess, 13. Cycling, 14. Equestrian, 15. Fencing, 16. Fin Swimming, 17. Football, 18. Futsal, 19. Golf, 20. Gymnastics, 21. Judo, 22. Karate, 23. Paragliding, 24. Pencak Silat, 25. Petanque, 26. Roller Sports, 27. Rowing, 28. Sailing, 29. Sepaktakraw, 30. Shorinji Kempo, 31. Shooting, 32. Softball, 33. Soft Tennis, 34. Table Tennis, 35. Taekwondo, 36. Tennis, 37. Traditional Boat Race, 38. Volleyball, 39. Vovinam, 40. Wall Climbing ,41. Water Ski, 42. Weightlifting, 43. Wrestling, and 44. Wushu. ***6*** (T.A014/A/H-NG/F001) 17-07-2011 14:00: