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The National Sports Committee took a tentative first step on Tuesday toward decentralizing Indonesia’s sports development with its announcement that Olympic training camps did not have to be held in Jakarta.

Tono Suratman, chairman of the committee known as KONI, said sports federations were free to organize training camps elsewhere in the country or abroad.

“As long as the area has sufficient training facilities for the sports and athletes and officials are comfortable training there, I don’t think it will be a problem for us,” he said on Tuesday.

“We will give a chance for athletes who want to stay and train in their preferred place but, of course, we will supervise and make evaluations of them.”

Tono’s comments came amid a dispute over Indonesia’s weightlifting training camp, which could hurt the country’s chances for more medals at the Olympics, which take place July 27 to Aug. 12 in London.

The Indonesian Weightlifting, Power lifting and Body Building Federation (Pabbsi) was reported last week to have scheduled a centralized training camp for Olympic-bound lifters in Jakarta.

However, several weightlifting centers outside Jakarta, including Lampung and East Kalimantan, rejected the idea, saying it would be better for the athletes to train in the comfort of their own home.

“Eko [Yuli Irawan] and Triyatno both trained here in Balikpapan before they won bronze in the 2008 Beijing Olympics,” East Kalimantan weightlifting coach Lukman said. “We have great training facilities.”

Lampung coach Imron Rosadi voiced his agreement with his East Kalimantan counterpart.

“Pabbsi should’ve discussed this with us before going with their plan,” he said.

While the coaches did not elaborate on their reasons for rejecting a camp in Jakarta, a source close to the federation said it was because of friction between Pabbsi officials and coaches from outside the capital.

“Every time there is a camp in Jakarta, Pabbsi cares only about the athletes while they have been neglecting the coaches’ needs,” the source told Jakarta Globe on condition of anonymity on Tuesday.

The federation refused to comment on the matter.

Weightlifting has produced medals for Indonesia in every Olympics since the 2000 Games in Sydney, when Lisa Rumbewas took the women’s 48-kilogram silver, while Sri Indriyani (48kg) and Winarni (53kg) earned bronze.

Lisa won another silver in Athens in 2004, while Eko (56kg) and Triyatno (62kg) finished with bronze in Beijing in 2008.

Tono said he hoped Tuesday’s announcement would help settle the Pabbsi dispute.

“Pabbsi doesn’t have to hold a centralized camp in Jakarta because Lampung, Bekasi and Balikpapan have sufficient facilities and have long been sources of the country’s top lifters,” he said.

Indonesia has secured five tickets for men’s weightlifting events at the London Games, with the name of the athletes to be determined later.