JAKARTA, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian National Sports Committee (KONI) finally decided to send the national soccer team to the Asian Games 2006 despite mounting criticisms of the team's poor performance.
"We have agreed to send the national (soccer) team. I hope all the polemic will end here," KONI chairman Agum Gumelar was quoted Friday by major newspaper The Jakarta Post's website as saying.
The decision was made in a meeting attended by State Minister for Youth and Sports Adhyaksa Dault, KONI's board of executives, and director of the Asian Games Training Center and a monitoring team here Thursday.
Critics oppose the sending of the national soccer team which has never won any major trophy for more than 10 years.
KONI has earlier announced that each sports discipline eligible for participation in the Asian Games is the one with a bright prospect to get medal and a gold medal in the 2005 Southeast Asian(SEA) Games.
Based on that, the soccer team seems not to meet any of the criteria.
Agum said KONI did not set any target for the soccer team in the Asian Games slated for Dec. 1-15 in Doha, Qatar.
