Indonesia is expected to name its squad for the Southeast Asian Games soon according to pending results of tests, and doping tests for 511 athletes being groomed for the biennial event.
"We will send only gold medal potential athletes to the event," training center chairman Achmad Sutjipto was quoted Friday by Jakarta Post as saying.
Indonesia has cut back squad members from 807 athletes to 511. However, some sports -- including athletics, swimming, bowling and archery -- have tried to add some of their athletes in the squad.
"These athletes must undergo tougher physical and laboratory testing and sports organizations must give their assurance they have the potential to win gold medals," Sutjipto said.
The Dec. 6-16 Games in Thailand will feature 44 sports with a total of 485 gold medals on offer.
Indonesia will field its athletes in 39 sports and has targeted 64 gold medals.
Once the overall champion at the Games, Indonesia's performance has sharply declined since the 1999 event where it finished third after Thailand and Malaysia. In the 2005 Games, held in the Philippines, Indonesia finished fifth after the host, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia.
Arie Sutopo, who heads the special team that will name the SEA Games squad, said his team would work with the Indonesian Anti-Doping Agency to conduct pre-match doping tests for athletes.
"The doping test during the official Games will be tighter than the pre-match test. I hope our athletes will be very careful in what they consume," he said.
Source: Xinhua
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