JAKARTA - Budget constraints have forced the Indonesian Aquatic Grandmaster (PB Akuatik) to return athletes who are undergoing national training (pelatnas) for the 2026 Asian Games to their respective clubs.
Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian Aquatic Federation for Achievement Development and Sport Science, Wisnu Wardhana, said that the current budget was still under discussion so that the decision to send athletes back to the club was forced to be made.
"Our position is that we are still waiting for confirmation about the continuation of this national event, but in the meantime we have to return it first because the cost we have to anticipate is quite large, yes," said Wisnu in Jakarta, as reported by Antara.
The national training concentration program to face the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, actually only started in March 2026. However, last week the PB Aquatic received information from the Ministry of Youth and Sports (Kemenpora) that the available budget was very limited.
Wisnu said that the PB Aquatic is still trying to continue the national team in order to maintain the opportunity for Indonesia's achievements in the four-year multi-branch sports festival of Asian countries.
"Once the funds and the budget are there, we will definitely start again. We also don't want to say that the national team is still there, but they have to train independently. We are looking for solutions," said Wisnu.
A total of 12 athletes have entered the national athlete program. This number is reduced from the initial submission of 24 athletes due to budget efficiency from the Government which reaches more than 50 percent for the controversial free nutritious meal (MBG) priority program.
Flairene Candrea Wonomiharjo who is included in the national team athletes admitted to be very disappointed with the decision of the federation which was forced to return the athletes to the club due to budget constraints.
"It's really sad because we happen to want to Kejurnas (National Championship) next week, but we still have to be enthusiastic, have to focus, and have to show at Kejurnas that we can perform well to prove it," he said.
The 2026 Asian Games are scheduled to take place from September 19 to October 4. Indonesia has already received tickets from several sports for the largest sports festival in the Asian region.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
