JAKARTA (10/15/08) – Asian Beach Games gained another partner after Indosat, an information and communication-based company agreed to join into participation as one of the partners in the Asian multi-event. Rita Subowo, BABGOC Director General, and Johnny Swandi Sjam, President Director of Indosat, signed the agreement at Indosat Building.

Johnny said that, during the games Indosat will provide all communication facilities and access for athletes, committees, officials, and Asian Beach Games 2008 Official Media Center. “The communication service will be under Lintasarta and IM2, two of Indosat’s subsidiaries,” he added.

Indosat will provide communication services such as Internet, fixed and mobile voice communication, data communication, live telecast satellite, 3.5 G broadband and data center, wi-fi hotspot along with virtual private network. (Irw)

JAKARTA (10/14/08) – Indonesian team is set to win more medals than in Asian Games 2006 Doha where Indonesia won 2 gold, 3 silver, and 15 bronze and ranked 22 of 45 under Thailand (5), Singapore (11), Malaysia (14) The Philippines (18), and Vietnam (19).

“Performing in Bali will be a different experience in this first-ever-held Asian multi event in Indonesia since 45 years ago. The team must compete in optimum performance,” said Rita Subowo as the chairperson of Indonesian NOC.

From all 17 disciplines, Indonesia sets highest targets on five – pencak silat, beach volley ball, beach takraw, dragon boat, and body building. However, Indonesia also aims to perform maximum in other disciplines such as wood ball, kabaddi, and beach soccer. (Irw)

DENPASAR (10/13/08) – The chairperson of Indonesian NOC, who is also the Games Director, Rita Subowo said that Bali is well prepared and will perform its best to host Asian Beach Games 2008.

The venues are ready within the end of the week before the inauguration of the first beach Games in Asia. “We have nothing to worry about because everybody is working in optimum capacity. The venue preparation had to celebrate Idul Fitri in Bali. They even still prepared everything during holidays to achieve the best result,” Rita added.

Most of the venues are in tourism spots. Therefore, the committee decided to build the venues near the commencing date to avoid any disturbance to the visitors. (Irw

DENPASAR (10/12/08) – Wood Ball national team for Asian Beach Games (ABG) will try out against Bali local team on Sunday, October 12th.

The head of Bali Wood Ball Federation, Maryoto Subekti, said that Bali wood ball team will compete against the national team. “We are ready for them,” Maryoto said. To prepare for Asian Beach Games, there had been trainings for volunteers and lines men on Tuesday (7/10).

The trainings were to prepare them more on field coordination. Maryoto also added that the trainings also meant to provide more skills and knowledge on the games mechanism both theoretically and practically. (Irw)

SANUR (10/11/08) – KONI Chairperson Rita Subowo inaugurated Indonesian team to compete in Asian Beach Games 2008, Bali, on October 18th – 26th 2008. The team will comprise of 210 athletes and 102 officials.

“This is the challenge and honor for us. Let us prove that we can host and compete in this event,” Rita said during the ceremony in Sanur. Indonesia as the largest archipelago in the world should be proud to compete in Asian Beach Games. “We won two gold medals in Asian Games. Now we must get more,” she added.

Djoko Pramono, The head of Indonesian Team said that Indonesia has been preparing on 13 disciplines since October 2007. Other three – kabaddi, pencak silat, and wrestling – have been prepared since March. Djoko added that beach soccer, kabaddi, and surfing have previously competed in several competitions in Asia. (Irw)

JAKARTA (10/10/08) – President of Indonesia, Susilo BambangYudhoyono, is scheduled to hand over the Games torch to Bali Games director Rita Subowo – also the chairperson of Indonesia’s Olympic Committee on Friday before the torch gets relayed from Jakarta to Bali by motorcade.

After being kindled at Mrapen on Wednesday, the torch was ferried to Jakarta the same day. The torch is slated to reach Bali on Saturday where it will be paraded through eight regencies and one municipality on the resort island. The torch itinerary is scheduled to end at Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park on Oct. 18th when President Yudhoyono is expected to inaugurate the Games. (Irw)