Special report:   2008 Olympic Games

    JAKARTA, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Organizers of the Asian Beach Games which will be held in the next three months said that they are still short of sponsors in what is being billed as the first beach sporting showcase ever held in the world, the Jakarta Post reported here Monday.

    Organizers have announced they were still looking for sponsors to fund the event, whose budget was recently slashed from 316 billion rupiah (34.3 million U.S. dollars) to 200 billion rupiah (some 21.7 million U.S. dollars).

    "We don't have any sponsors yet, so if there are any parties interested in sponsorship, it will help us a lot," Djoko Pramono, sports director of the Bali Asian Beach Games Organizing Committee said.

    Despite lacking in funds, Djoko said the event, which features 17 sports, would run as scheduled from October 18 to 26.

    Among the more familiar competitions will be beach volleyball, beach soccer, sailing and surfing.

    Other sports, such as kabaddi (a traditional Indian team sport), woodball, wrestling and pencak silat (traditional Indonesian martial arts), will need some adjustment to be played on sand.

    Djoko said 37 of 45 Asian countries and regions, including Asian sports powerhouses China, South Korea, 2012 host Oman and Thailand, have confirmed their participation in the Games.

    "The most popular sport is volleyball, with teams from 27 countries taking part in it, followed by bodybuilding with 25 teams," he said. Djoko, who is also in charge of the Indonesian contingent's training camp, said Indonesian athletes began preparing in Bali on Friday to get accustomed to performing in sand. Indonesia will field 214 athletes to compete in all 17 sports.

    He added Indonesia was looking to win medals in seven sports, including pencak silat, beach volleyball and bodybuilding.

    The 17 sports included in the Asian Beach Games are handball, kabaddi, pencak silat, sepaktakraw, soccer, volleyball, wrestling, bodybuilding, dragon boat racing, jet skiing, marathon swimming, paragliding, sailing, surfing, triathlon, windsurfing and woodball.