"I am proud over the several records broken in Mimika during PON. It shows that PON is really a place to hone the athletes' skills and achievements. There are several new records broken in athletics and skydiving. Jakarta is surprisingly winning in basketball, while North Sulawesi, which never enters the final, now can win the silver medal," Rettob affirmed on Thursday.
He pointed to several surprises and national records broken during the 20th PON.
The surprises came from teams that were not touted as champions, while superior teams had failed to win a medal. Rettob believes this is good progress in terms of Indonesia's sports achievements.
On the same occasion, he also commended the support, cooperation, and collaboration of all parties in the success in organizing the national multi-sporting event in Mimika.
There were no fatal incidents that hampered the competing athletes, especially during the aerosports, which included hang gliding, aeromodelling, and parachuting. The three sports branches are considered very vulnerable and accident-prone.
"Praise be to God, no incidents and accidents occurred during the aerosport competition in Mimika. Events of other sports branches relatively ran well," Rettob stated.
On behalf of the district government, Rettob expressed his gratitude for the support of the entire Mimika community that served as a good and friendly host to the guests, athletes, and officials from all provinces during the event.
Before PON was held in Papua, especially in Mimika, several contingents were concerned about the security situation, he pointed out.
"There may be people who think that we in Papua cannot do anything. Moreover, Papua is far away and not as safe as they usually see in the news. However, they can prove it themselves that Papua's conditions are safe and we can provide good service to all guests," he remarked.
From the experience of organizing a major event, such as PON, the Mimika district government and all related parties must be able to seize the opportunity to continue to hold national and international events in future.
The Papua 20th PON in Mimika will officially be closed on Oct 15 by holding the closing ceremony at the Timika Indah area.
On Thursday, the final matches of several sports will be held as well as a ceremony honoring the winners in athletics, billiards, handball, 3x3 basketball, and parachuting.
As one of the PON clusters, Mimika District hosts nine sports with 12 sports disciplines: hang gliding, futsal, parachuting, aeromodelling, billiards, basketball, athletics, handball, judo, tarung derajat (boxing), and rock climbing.
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Translator: Evarianus Supar, Resinta S
Editor: Sri Haryati
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