We are striving for it, especially since we have a very busy sports agenda in 2022.Jakarta (ANTARA) - Chairman of the Indonesian Olympic Committee (KOI) has said he is optimistic that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) would lift its sanction on the Indonesian Anti-Doping Agency (LADI) by March 2022 at the earliest.
After meeting with director general of the Southeast Asia Regional Anti-Doping Organisation (SEARADO), Gobinathan Nair, in Singapore on Wednesday, Raja Sapta Oktohari (Okto) shared Indonesia's progress on resolving pending matters.
In a press release issued by KOI on Friday, he said that this includes the outcomes of his meeting with WADA's secretary general, Olivier Niggli, and director, European office and sport movement relations, Sébastien Gillot, in Lausanne, Switzerland, at the beginning of December.
Nair had a very positive response to the progress that LADI has made, Oktohari informed. However, there is still some work to be done for obtaining WADA's compliance status, he added.
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"But, with our current progress, we are very optimistic that, at the beginning of 2022, WADA's sanction on LADI would be lifted," he affirmed.
"We are striving for it, especially since we have a very busy sports agenda in 2022," he remarked.
Indonesia has a full sports event schedule in 2022 with the SEA Games (May 12–23), Islamic Solidarity Games (August 9–18), Asian Games (September 10–25), and Asian Youth Games (December 20–28), he informed.
There are also single-event championships such as FIBA Asia Cup 2022 (July 12–24), IFSC Climbing World Cup (September 24–26), IESF 14th Esports World Championship 2022 (November 20–27), and a series of badminton championships, Oktohari said.
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LADI's sanction would also need to be lifted quickly if Indonesia wishes to host the ASEAN Para Games in place of Vietnam, which has decided to only hold the SEA Games in May next year, he added.
"Indonesian NPC (National Paralympic Committee) chairman (Senny Marbun) had contacted me. He urged to have LADI's sanction be immediately lifted so that Indonesia could hold ASEAN Para Games," Okto said.
"Vietnam had also withdrawn, so it would be a shame for our disabled athletes if there are no two held events in a row," he added.
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Translator: Shofi Ayudiana, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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