Hoping West Papua To Become A Sports Tourism Pilot, Head Of Central KONI: It's A Shame If It's Not Used Maximally

The general chairman of the Central KONI Marciano Norman together with the management of the West Papua KONI provincial administration (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Chairman of the Central Indonesian National Sports Committee (KONI), Marciano Norman, expressed his hope for West Papua to become a model for sports tourism in Indonesia.

According to him, West Papua is a province that has potential tourist destinations. For this reason, he asked the Provincial Management (Pengprov) of the West Papua KONI to be able to make maximum use of it by holding sports competitions.

"West Papua KONI must become a pilot KONI that has succeeded in developing sport tourism. The potential of West Papua's sports tourism is very unfortunate if it is not utilized optimally," said Marciano Norman, quoted from Antara, Wednesday.

"I hope there will be sports competitions that introduce West Papua tourism, such as Raja Ampat and others. Through sports, we introduce West Papua which is very rich," Marciano added.

West Papua KONI visited the Central KONI headquarters with one of the objectives of asking for guidance before holding the Annual Members Meeting (RAT). After that, West Papua KONI plans to hold a Provincial Conference. Vice Chairman II of West Papua KONI, Sugestiono, also expressed the hope that the Head of the Central KONI will be the resource person for the activities that are being planned.

During the hearing, Marciano also advised the management of the West Papua KONI to fully support the General Chair of the West Papua KONI, Dominggus Mandacan, who also carries out the mandate as Governor of West Papua. Therefore, the board of directors must actively work to improve the quality of achievement sports coaching.

"A total of 39 sports under the auspices of the West Papua KONI must be properly nurtured by the board of directors, West Papua can certainly give birth to outstanding athletes at the national level and then represent Indonesia in international competitions," concluded Marciano Norman.