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2009 will be hectic year for Indonesian athletes

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-12-26 14:07

JAKARTA-- Indonesian athletes will face a tight schedule next year as they could end up competing in as many as six multi-sport events, a local newspaper said on Friday.

Two of the events are the Asian Martial Arts Games and Asian Youth Games which will be held respectively from April 25 to May 3 in Thailand and from June 29 to July 7 in Singapore, the Jakartaglobe daily said.

The other multi-sport events include the 2nd Islamic Solidarity Games from October 15-29 in Iran, the 3rd Asian Indoor Games from November 2-12 in Vietnam, and the Southeast Asian Games and Southeast Asian Para Games, both of which will take place in Laos in December.

To prepare for the events, the head of sports and athletes' development for the Indonesia National Olympic Committee, named only Mulyana, said that the committee would hold a new, integrated national training camp. The camp would be different from previous ones with athletes only recruited whenever an event was being held, he said.

"The committee and national sports federations will recruit athletes to compete in several multi-sport events. For example, a taekwondo athlete competing in the Asian Martial Art Games will also compete in the Islamic Solidarity Games because the sport will be held in both games," Mulyana said.

Mulyana said that the global financial crisis was affecting sports development in Indonesia, particularly the budgets for holding training camps.