•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   

Indonesia’s inattention to youth development could at last be coming back to haunt it.

As the inaugural Youth Olympic Games, which take place next August in neighboring Singapore, draw ever closer, Indonesia’s young athletes are finding Olympic standards too high a hurdle.

Tight restrictions, including a quota system, on the Games’ 26 sports increased already heated competition for berths.

To date, only one Indonesian athlete — Sumariyanto, a boys weight lifter from Lampung — is assured of appearing in the Games, which will take place Aug. 14-26, 2010, and feature athletes 14 to 18 years old.

“Of course we don’t want to send only one athlete. It would be sad if [Sumariyanto] had to walk alone carrying the Red and White flag,” Djoko Pramono, the head of the Indonesian Olympic Solidarity Commission, said on Tuesday.

Sumariyanto earned his spot by finishing third at the Youth World Weight Lifting Championship in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in May.

The Indonesian National Sports Committee (KONI) hopes to avoid that sight by sending more youngsters to events that also serve as Youth Olympic qualifiers.

One such event is December’s Asian Youth and Junior Championships in Pune, India, where the Indonesian Weight Lifting Federation (Pabbsi) hopes to add a girl lifter to its Games roster.

“In October, we’ll hold a national championship to select potential young lifters to compete in Pune,” Pabbsi chairman Syafriadi Tjut Ali said.

Sumariyanto will also go to the championship to warm up before the Youth Olympics.

Djoko said Indonesia’s chances of earning other spots at the Games looked slim after the country’s performance at the Asian Youth Games in June.

None of its 10 track and field athletes won medals.

Its only Youth Games medal was a bronze from Gede Eka Agustiawan and Ade Chandra Rachmawan in boys’ beach volleyball, which, unfortunately for Indonesia, will not be part of the Youth Olympics.

Indonesia is falling behind, Syafriadi said, because sports federations lack the budget to maintain long-term development programs.

“That’s why we prefer to focus on senior athletes’ development, since we don’t need much time to train them before competing in international competitions,” he said.

Badminton could save Sumariyanto from walking alone during the opening ceremonies.

The Youth Olympics will have boys’ and girls’ singles, and each country is allowed a maximum of two shuttlers per event.

In addition, the top seven from boys’ and girls’ singles at the 2010 World Junior Championship qualify for the Youth Olympics.