Anticipating The Loss Of 19 Gold Medals At The 2023 Asian Games Hangzhou

Illustration of the 2023 Asian Games medal. (Photo via Antara/Hangzou2022.cn)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian contingent lost the opportunity to win 19 gold medals at the Hangzhou 2023 Asian Games. The reason is, a number of the mainstay sports of the Red and White team are not contested.

At the 2018 Asian Games Jakarta-Palembang, Indonesia sat in fourth place after successfully collecting 31 gold medals, 24 silver medals, and 43 bronze medals. This position could have decreased if there were no anticipatory steps.

This was conveyed by Deputy 4 for Sports Achievement Improvement of the Ministry of Youth and Sports (Kemenpora) Surono. He said Indonesia had certainly lost 19 gold medals.

"Indeed, after Indonesia's Asian Games hosted in 2018, we lost at least 19 gold medals from pencak silat, jet ski, to BMX. (It is predicted that there will be a decline (gold medal) because the numbers of the leading sports are not played in China," said Surono, as quoted by Antara.

To that end, Surono said the need for more thorough preparation for athletes and officials at the 19th edition of the Asian Games which also went hand in hand with preparations ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Some of the things that have been done, among others, are through long-term national training centers (pelatnas), training camp and trying out abroad, to evaluations that are also running continuously.

"We are preparing from now on so that (the medals) do not go far. For example, through long-term national training, try out abroad so that they are ready to compete with world athletes, as well as monitoring and evaluation for maturation ahead of the Asian Games," said Surono.

Furthermore, he added that preparations for the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games had been carried out since the 2021 Vietnam SEA Games, followed by the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia.

"Then for sports that are not competed in the SEA Games (2023) but competed in the Asian Games, we trained from the start, such as shooting, archery, and rock climbing," said Surono.

The 2023 Asian Games Hangzhou is also an important priority for Indonesian athletes, considering its status which is also one of the determinations to enter the 2024 Paris Olympics qualifying process.

"We have started the preparations, and hopefully in the future, our preparation will be targeted to win a gold medal (at the Asian Games)," said Surono.

Meanwhile, the biggest quadrennial sporting event in the 19th edition of Asia will compete in 481 match/match numbers out of 61 disciplines from 40 sports.