Minister Of Youth And Sports Ensures That The Benchmarks For Departing Athletes To International Events Will Be Added

Menpora Zainudi Amali (Cosmas Kopong Beda/VOI)

JAKARTA - Minister of Youth and Sports (Menpora) Zainudin Amali said the benchmarks for sending athletes to important international events in the future will be added.

"In the future, we will add more measurements that will be carried out by the review team. If they are added, surely many will scream," Amali said in Jakarta on Monday, April 18.

This benchmark was first applied by the review team to dispatch athletes to the 2021 SEA Games Hanoi on May 12-23. The use of benchmarks makes the number of athletes and sports that are included by the government experience a very significant efficiency.

For this year, a total of 497 athletes were sent out of 32 sports, including futsal, which had just been added. That number is almost half of the total athletes sent for the previous edition in the Philippines in 2019.

Amali said that the use of this benchmark was to change the paradigm as well as the first step in implementing the National Sports Grand Design (DBON) which prioritizes certain sports for the Olympics.

"So we don't just dispatch as previously there were no clear parameters and I had to use the measurements carried out by the review team," said the figure from Gorontalo.

Reducing the number of athletes to the SEA Games received mixed responses from several sports that were not included. Moreover, the reduction in the athlete's quota was judged to be due to insufficient budget problems.

Amali emphasized that the reduction in the number of athletes carried out through the review team was not a budget issue. Rather, the application of benchmarks such as track record of achievement.

"We know what we are doing. Everything is well planned. So this has nothing to do with the budget. This is a matter of achievement according to the recommendation of the review team," said the Menpora in Jakarta on Monday, April 18, 2022.

The departure of the Indonesian contingent to Hanoi will begin on May 2. Some sports have to go there first because there are certain numbers that will be contested before the opening ceremony.

Meanwhile, a large group of Red and White contingents will be flown on May 10 or May 11. President Joko Widodo plans to release the Indonesian contingent to the biennial event.