JAKARTA – The Executive Board of the All-Indonesian Athletics Association (PB PASI) has set a target of bringing home seven gold medals from the SEA Games Hanoi 2022. This target surpassed the achievement of the event in the Southeast Asian region in the previous edition.
PASI Secretary General Tigor Tanjung said his party was optimistic about the target. Bringing home seven gold medals can still be realized in the midst of the limitations of the current championship and the absence of trials of Indonesian athletic athletes abroad.
“Seven to eight gold medals can be obtained, maybe even more. Not only Indonesia. Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore are also equally difficult to conduct trials," Tigor said in Tangerang on Tuesday, March 8, as quoted from Antara.
At the previous edition of the SEA Games in the Philippines in 2019, Indonesian athletics won 16 medals with details of 5 gold, 6 silver and 5 bronze. The gain is behind Vietnam (16 gold), Thailand (12), the Philippines (11), and Malaysia (5).
Indonesia's athletic preparation for the SEA Games this year is full of challenges. In addition to the lack of championships and trials, athletics also have to struggle with a very limited budget.
The budget constraint was the result of the postponement of the biennial event which was supposed to be held last year. The small allocation of funds from the government makes PASI inevitably have to cut the number of athletes.
Of the 39 athletes who were called to the national training camp (Pelatnas), probably only 23 of them were sent to Hanoi. However, the names of the athletes who will be revealed have yet to be confirmed by the national athletic parent.
PASI still has to discuss the athletes who were dispatched with the Indonesian Olympic Committee (KOI) and the Ministry of Youth and Sports (Kemenpora).
Previously, the Minister of Youth and Sports Zainudin Amali had stated that his party would not send as many athletes to the SEA Games as in previous editions. Athletes who depart only athletes with great potential to contribute medals only.
However, the federation is allowed to send athletes as they wish, but with a record of spending personal money.
The 2022 SEA Games in Vietnam will be held on May 12-23. This event will feature 40 sports and 526 number of events.
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