Triono Wahyu Sudibyo - detikNews
Semarang - Dari Magelang kemudian ke Yogyakarta, obor SEA GAMES bergerak dan akhirnya tiba di Semarang, Jateng, Selasa (25/10/2011) sore. Rombongan diarak keliling kota dan disambut hiburan.

Di perbatasan Kota Semarang, rombongan yang terdiri dari pembawa obor, komunitas moge, perkumpulan jeep, dan denok-kenang (putra-putri) Semarang melakukan serah terima obor. Dalam rombongan juga tampak punakawan dan maskot SEA Games.

Mereka masuk kota, berkeliling melintasi berbagai jalan protokol seperti Jalan Perintis Kemerdekaan, Jalan Sultan Agung, Jalan A. Yani, dan finish di SMA Negeri 3 Semarang. Sekda Provinsi Jateng Hadi Prabowo dan Wali Kota Semarang Soemarmo HS serta sejumlah pejabat Muspida Semarang. Wali Kota Semarang Soemarmo menyambut kedatangan rombongan tersebut.

"Mewakili masyarakat Semarang, saya berharap Indonesia dapat menjadi juara umum," kata Soemarmo.

Malam ini, rombongan Torch Relay SEA Games XXVI 2011 akan dihibur dengan gebyar budaya di halaman balaikota, Jalan Pemuda. Mereka juga disambut beragam atraksi seperti komunitas wushu, sepeda onthel, dan capoeira.

Selain untuk hiburan, panggung besar di balaikota juga digunakan untuk seremoni. Duta Obor SEA Games, Ruwiyati menyerahkan obor ke Wali Kota Semarang Soemarmo HS, untuk selanjutnya diserahkan kepada Edhie Baskoro didampingi Menpora Andi Mallarangeng. Dari Ibas, obor akan diserahkan kepada Gubernur Jateng Bibit Waluyo.

(try/ndr)
Selasa, 25 Oktober 2011
JAKARTA (Suara Karya): Tanda-tanda SEA Games XXVI bisa digelar sesuai jadwal 11 - 22 November nanti di Palembang dan Jakarta sudah mulai tampak. Penyelesaian tempat pertandingan di Palembang tinggal menunggu tahap akhir sedangkan di Jakarta persiapan sudah mencapai 95 persen.

Selain tetap konsentrasi untuk menuntaskan tahap akhir pembangunan arena pertandingan dan penunjang lainnya, kegiatan untuk mendukung pelaksanaan pesta olahraga antarbangsa Asia Tenggara itu juga sudah mulai digelar. Kirab obor SEA Games yang nanti akan menjadi penyulut Api SEA Games pada acara pembukaan di Stadion Jakabaring, Palembang sudah diambil di sumber api abadi Mrapen, Jawa Tengah, Minggu dan kini di arak keliling Indonesia sebelum disemayamkan di Palembang.

Pihak keamanan juga sudah menyatakan, siap mengamankan pelaksanaan gawe akbar dua tahunan yang akan diikuti 11 negara anggota ASEAN itu. Kemarin pihak Polda Metro Jaya melakukan rapat koordinasi pengamanan SEA Games di Jakarta. Hadir dalam rapat tersebut, pihak penyelenggara (Indonesia South East Asian Games Organizing Committee/Inasoc), Asisten Operasi Kasdam Jaya Letkol Inf Toyo, Kepala Damkar dan Penanggulangan Bencana DKI Jakarta Paimin Napitupulu, perwakilan Dinas Perhubungan DKI Syamsul Mirwan, dan perwakilan Satuan Polisi Pamong Praja DKI, dengan Biro Operasi Polda Metro sebagai tuan rumah.

Menteri Pemuda dan Olah Raga, Andi Mallarangeng memastikan, pelaksanaan SEA Games XXVI di Palembang dan Jakarta berlangsung sesuai jadwal. "Semua akan berjalan sesuai jadwal, jangan khawatir," kata Andi Mallarangeng saat melepas Api SEA Games menuju Yogjakarta, di Komplek Taman Wisata Candi Borobudur, Minggu (23/10) malam.

Menurut Andi Mallarangeng, pihaknya sedang menyempurnakan beberapa fasilitas yang belum selesai dibandung. "Persiapan sudah berjalan dengan baik. Fisiknya boleh dikatakan sudah selesai tinggal mungkin satu, dua finishing. Sekarang kami menyelesaikan peralatan-peralatan yang dibutuhkan," ujarnya.

Soal target perolehan medali, meski tidak menyebut jumlah pasti Menpora optimistis Indonesia menjadi yang terbaik. "Tentu saja ada hitunganya. Yang jelas kami optimistis jadi yang terbaik," kata Andi Mallarangeng.

Sedangkan Inasoc DKI Jakarta mengklaim persiapan venue SEA Games XXVI/2011 di wilayahnya telah mencapai 95 persen. Sampai saat ini, panitia setempat menunggu realisasi perlengkapan yang menjadi tanggung jawab Kementerian Negara Pemuda dan Olahraga (Kemenegpora).

Sekum Deputi I Inasoc DKI Jakarta Teddy Cahyono mengungkapkan, dua venue yang masih dalam tahap penyelesaian akhir adalah venue BMX di Ancol dan dayung di Situ Cipule, Karawang. Dua venue cabor (cabang olahraga) andalan Indonesia itu pun, menurut Teddy, hampir selesai.

Untuk menunjukkan kesiapan venue di wilayahnya, Teddy menyebut sejauh ini dari 23 cabor yang dipertandingkan di Jakarta, hampir seluruhnya telah menggelar test event. Hanya tersisa golf dan wushu yang belum melaksanakan uji venue. Test event golf rencananya digelar pada 24-25 Oktober ini, sedangkan wushu pada akhir bulan. (Gungde Ariwangsa)
Defenders Oliver Nicholas and Rhema Obed maybe unfamiliar names to many but they have rubbed shoulders with the likes of Emmanuel Frimpong and Conor Henderson, two highly rated young Arsenal players. In fact, anorak alert, the four of them feature side by side in the Arsenal Handbook 2008/2009.

They're together no more of course. Nicholas and Obed are joining a couple of dozen other prospects hoping to get picked by SLeague teams ahead of next season. They will be taking part in open trials where SLeague coaches will have the opportunity to run their eye of the lads.

Timor Leste The Guests

Indonesia Under 23 will play Timor Leste Under 23 at Bung Karno Stadium tomorrow afternoon. Tickets cost 20,000 IDR and 100,000 IDR.

Irfan Bachdim burst on the Indonesian football scene some 12 months back but unfortunately it wasn't only his football people were talking about. His supposed boyish good looks, done nothing for me, had teenage girls swooning in ways Budi Sudarsono and Jendri Pitoy could only dream about. Bachdim, and his model girlfriend, moved from the sports pages to the front pages as the celebrity world discovered him and, momentarily at least, made the national team cooler than a polar bear in Raybans.

Soon, it became clear that Bachdim's focus was no longer on kicking a ball and his team mates. He spent more and more time on personal sponsorship deals, appearances and a movie, missing training and cutting a more remote figure at his club, Persema.

His presence made the unfashionable Persema, the other Malang team, the glamour club of the short lived Liga Primer Indonesia, adding a few hundred to the gate here and there but all was not well.

Advice is easy to find in football as in life. The trick is to filter the bullshit and that only comes with experience. Fortunately football is littered with the wreckage of careers damaged by the inhalation of fame, riches and recognition at an early age. Bachdim needed protecting if he was to fulfill his ability much like Alex Ferguson did with Ryan Giggs.

But with a model girlfriend and an entourage who loved the limelight more than he did Bachdim was backing a loser from early on. No longer a shoo in, his football star has waned while he has seemingly concentrated on his extra curricular activities. Perhaps they do earn more, perhaps that is what he really wants, perhaps we will never know.

Bachdim is a likable lad, bemused by the nonsense that surrounds him but not strong enough to knock it on the head. Now, after falling out of favour with the national team and the Under 23s he has been banned from all football for Indonesia for three months for not turning up for training camps among other reasons.
Remember last season? When the Indonesia Super League began, three clubs jumped to the breakaway, short lived, unloved Liga Primer Indonesia who promised to change the game but couldn't even finish the season? And FIFA talked tough saying the FA had to solve the problem of the LPI because you couldn't have two premier football leagues running simultaneously with one league not under their control?

Well, since those heady, exciting days the focus has moved on from football which is a shame because the same crap is going on. But now the LPI people are in charge of the Football Association and the ISL teams are threatening a breakaway.

The LPI version kicked off a week or so back with one game but the rest of the season has been put on hold while everyone gets excited about an Under 23 competition. No one is sure if the league will resume...hell, no one even knows what teams are in the bloody thing.

Meanwhile the ISL version has released some fixtures for their season which will begin in December, with a three week break in December!

Just to add to the mess there are two Persija's, one in each league but only the LPI version have been told they cannot use that name...they should call themselves Jakarta FC like they did during LPI when they failed to attract any fans.

Nope, I don't make this stuff up. If I was to write about it daily I would go ga ga, the mental and verbal gymnastics are mind boggling.

I trust the suits at the AFC and FIFA are keeping up with the events here. Perhaps they're waiting for something to actually happen rather than loads of piss n wind.

Being reported that Peter Butler, who used to play for West Ham United, will soon be back at the helm of Kelantan. Malaysia Football says the former coach of SAFFC, Persiba, Kelantan and Yangon United will return to his old desk next month.
top