Taufik Hidayat Ready To Meet The 2028 Olympic Target

Taufik Hidayat gave a speech at the Wisma Kemenpora on Tuesday, October 22, 2024 (VOI/Cosmas Kopong Beda).

JAKARTA Taufik Hidayat is ready to work to achieve the big target of Indonesia that President Prabowo Subianto wants at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The Indonesian badminton legend has just been appointed Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports (Wamenpora) at the Merdeka Palace, Central Jakarta, on Monday, October 21, 2024.

Taufik said that he would try to help the Menpora and at the same time prove himself to fulfill President Prabowo's wishes to get more than two gold medals in Los Angeles later.

"The big target of the President (Prabowo Subianto) is the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics," said Taufik during the Ministerial and Deputy Ministers of Youth and Sports Friendly event at the Ministry of Youth and Sports Office on Tuesday, October 22, 2024, afternoon WIB.

Taufik has a big name in the world of sports, especially badminton. He is the 2004 Athens Olympics men's singles gold medalist.

Apart from being a former athlete, Taufik was also the Deputy Chair of the 2016-2017 Golden Indonesia Program Implementing Unit (Satlak Prima) and became the Special Staff of the Ministry of Youth and Sports in 2017-2018.

Taufik said he was happy to be back in a familiar environment for him. He also hopes that he can do a lot to help the Ministry of Youth and Sports with this experience.

"Hopefully with my name and achievements, I can help the Minister to improve higher sports achievements. I want to prove not only on the field," he said.

Indonesia's best achievement in Olympic history is two gold medals on two different occasions, at Barcelona 1992 and Paris 2024, respectively.

When sending 29 athletes from 12 sports to Paris, Indonesia actually targets to get more than two golds. However, that target was ultimately not met.