JAKARTA (10/17/08) – Asian Beach Games will be inaugurated tomorrow at Garuda Wisnu Kencana Monument. The ceremony will be attended by top government officials – as the President is also scheduled to attend the ceremony. The multi event will be another history for Indonesia in organizing an event under the sanctions of OCA after the 4th Asian Games in Jakarta, 1962.

As the opening ceremony draws near, BABGOC finishes all necessary facilities for the games including four media centers to cater to more than 500 journalists. The facilities are located in Kuta Beach, Sanur Beach, Nusa Dua-Benoa and Serangan Island, and equipped with services such as PCs, printers, copy machines, and Internet connection for journalists to write stories on the Games.

Meanwhile, security increases by bringing in more forces from the military and police department. The military involves anti riot and anti terror squad, cavalry, and canine unit, with total number of 10 thousand personnel. (Irw)

JAKARTA (10/17/08) – INDONESIA targets to win gold medals from nine of all 17 sports disciplines in Asian Beach Games. Djoko Pramono said that Indonesia can gain significant benefits from all nine sports as the athletes ranked in Asia, even the world.

All nine sports are beach pencak silat, beach takraw, beach volleyball, body building, dragon boat, jetski, surfing, wind surfing and paragliding. “Our target will be more that Asian Games Doha 2006. However, pencak silat team sets their own target to win four gold medals.

Oyong Karmayudha, the team manager, said that the team will comprise of SEA Games Thailand 2007 and Indonesian National Games gold medalists. (Irw)

JAKARTA (10/16/08) –Asian Beach Games (ABG) 2008 in Bali is drawing near and BABGOC claims the largest and the first beach games multi-event is no longer in funding problems. About Rp 220 billion has been gathered for the Games. However, there will be some time before all the fund can be collected both from the government or partners.

Aburizal Bakrie, Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare, said that the government has allocated some funding for the event. “It reaches Rp 150 billion.” He said in his office. The amount doubled the previous commitment of Rp 75 billion.

However, the fund takes process to be collected, and Achmed Solihin, BABGOC Deputy of Finance and Treasury, states that the fund is already obtainable. (Irw)

For Immediate Release
17 October 2008

SANUR, Bali, Indonesia – Spectators from around the world will witness sports history when the 1st Asian Beach Games get underway in Bali, Indonesia, Oct. 18, with a colorful Opening Ceremony infused with a showing of Indonesian culture meant to inspire the world. The Ceremony will be held at the Garuda Wisnu Kencana, a monumental cultural park in Nusa Dua.

The President of the Republic of Indonesia H.E. Dr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Madame Ani Bambang Yudhoyono as well as other heads of state are expected to attend the Ceremony. As distinguished guests arrive, 80 dancers will perform the “Welcome Dance,” a medley of West Sumatera, Kalimantan, Ambonese and Javanese dances contemporarily choreographed by Boi G. Sakti.

Other highlights of the Opening Ceremony include 845 dancers performing a 12-minute dance choreographed by Sentot S. The dance, which depicts the rich history of host country Indonesia, ends with a special collaboration of three Asian Divo: Andre Hehaussa (Indonesia), Christian Bautista (Phillipines), and Mark Lazaro (India) singing “To Be One” with the Erwin Gutawa Orchestra.

Athletes and officials from the 45 participating countries will also march in the Ceremony. For the athletes parade, the athletes will be divided into five groups based on their regions: West Asia (13 countries), Central Asia (5 countries), South Asia (8 countries), East Asia (8 countries) and South East Asia (11 countries). They will be symbolized with sand, wind, flower, fire and water, respectively. Following the parade, the theme song of the 1st Asian Beach Games, “Inspire the World,” will be performed by Anggun.

The torch will be carried by three Indonesian athletes: sprinter Suryo Agung Laksono; 2004 Olympic Champion in badminton Taufik Hidayat; and windsurfer I Gusti Oka Sulaksana. Laksono and Hidayat will carry the torch first and second, respectively. Bali native Sulaksana, who is a gold medal hopeful at the Asian Beach Games, will carry the torch on its final leg.

The Ceremony will end with a musical performance featuring Indonesian’s top talents.

**********************

1st Asian Beach Games – Opening Ceremony
Tentative Run of Show

WELCOME
Choki Sitohang welcomes the guests

OPENING PRESENTATION

ARRIVAL OF DISTINGUSED GUESTS AND OPENING PROCESSION
Tantowi Yahya and Sita Suroso announce the arrival of President of the Republic of Indonesia H.E. Dr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Madame Ani Bambang Yudhoyono and other heads of state, accompanied by 20 dancers. Another 80 dancers follow and perform the welcome dance, a medley of West Sumatera, Kalimantan, Ambonese and Javanese dances contemporarily coreographed by Boi G. Sakti.   

INDONESIAN ANTHEM
The national anthem, “Indonesia Raya,” is performed by the Erwin Gutawa Orchestra.

REPORT BY CHAIRMAN OF BABGOC
Aburizal Bakrie, Chairman of the Bali Asian Beach Games Organizing Committee (BABGOC), addresses the audience.

COLLOSAL DANCE THEATRE – PROLOGOUE
A 12-minute contemporary dance, coreographed by Sentot S. and depicting the history of Indonesia from the glory of great kingdoms of Sriwijaya and Majapahit to the present day, is performed by 845 dancers and include a light show. The performance culminates with a special collaboration of three Asian singers: Andre Hehaussa (Indonesia), Christian Bautista (Phillipines), and Mark Lazaro (India), singing “To Be One” with the Erwin Gutawa Orchestra.

ATHELETES PARADE
Athletes and officials from the 45 participating countries march into the arena divided into five groups based on regions: West Asia (13 countries), Central Asia (5 countries), South Asia (8 countries), East Asia (8 countries) and South East Asia (11 countries). They will be symbolized by sand, wind, flower, fire and water, respectively. Following the parade, the theme song of the 1st Asian Beach Games, “Inspire the World,” will be performed by Anggun.

CAULDRON IGNITION
Three Indonesian athletes participate in the lighting of the cauldron. Sprinter Suryo Agung Laksono carries the torch to the Lotus Pond. 2004 Olympic badminton champion Taufik Hidayat runs a lap and proceeds to the Festival Park. Windsurfer I Gusti Oka Sulaksana, a Bali native and gold medal hopeful at the 2008 Asian Beach Games, carries the torch on its final leg. Fire Kecak Dancers welcome the final runner.

GRAND SHOW OF FIREWORKS, MUSIC AND PYROTECHNICS

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
A special musical performance featuring Indonesian’s top talents conclues the Opening Ceremony.
** Please note: schedule and performances are subject to change.

DENPASAR (10/15/08) – BABGOC is still in discussions over the decision on who will ignite the Asian Beach Games Flame on the cauldron during the opening ceremony at Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK) Monument, October 18th. However, three Indonesian top athletes are the candidates for the job.

They are Indonesian surfer I Gusti Made Oka Sulaksana, badminton gold medalist Taufik Hidayat and The Indonesian badminton legend Susi Susanti. “If we want to relate to the beach sports, Oka will be the best candidate” said Maryoto Subekti, Asian Beach Games Public Relations in Bali.

“Nevertheless, Susi Susanti and Taufik Hidayat still have same chances to ignite the flame as we are still in talks over the matter,” Maryoto added.

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)