Those (144) athletes are expected to take part in the intensified national training program starting Jan. 17.

The basic idea of the new system is to empower the federations so that they become more independent to develop themselves.

However, should the federations want to give higher salaries (than the limit), they would have to raise the money themselves.

We will no doubt monitor more intensively the progress made by our 'golden boys' during the preparation for the Asian Games. We will ensure adequate equipment for training, better coaching and proper tune-ups for them.

When I look at all these professional athletes when they are 50 or 45 years old, they have knees that don't work at all, shoulders that don't work, back problems, and I think that that's a much more common occurrence than a guy who is 40 or 50 who has serious problems because of some steroid he was taking when he was 20.

Try not to laugh when someone says these are the world's greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the games look like a GOP convention.