While attending the appreciation night of the SEA Games medal-winning athletes and coaching staff in Jakarta, Tuesday (May 23) evening, Ariotedjo said the aquatic sports, especially swimming, had been taken as one of the priority sports.
The priority was set out in the Grand Design of National Sports (DBON) in accordance with Presidential Regulation No. 86 of 2021.
"As I have said earlier, the PRSI has very high targets, as it aims not only at the SEA Games medals but also Olympics medals. This is stipulated in the DBON, and the swimming training center was the first center I visited one day after my appointment," the minister said, as quoted from the Youth and Sports Ministry's official website in Jakarta on Wednesday.
He also expressed gratitude for the Indonesian aquatic athletes' success in achieving and even surpassing the target and breaking a record at the SEA Games.
The minister expects the athletes to maintain their passion and concentration, so that they can maximize their exercises for the sake of achieving expected results at the Asian Games. By doing so, he believes the athletes will be able to better prepare themselves for the Olympics.
"Hopefully, we will achieve more targets at the upcoming Asian Games, win more medals, that, in turn, will provide better chances of qualifying at the Olympics.
"This is a good intention, that, in turn, will inspire and motivate other young athletes," Minister Ariotedjo said while also extending gratitude to PB PRSI for its appreciation to all medal-winning athletes.
The appreciation was given in the form of Rp100 million in cash for gold medal winners, Rp35 million for silver medal winners, and Rp15 million for bronze medal winners.
This year, the Indonesian contingent clocked better results in the aquatic sports, with a total of 11 medals, comprising three gold, three silver, and five bronze medals, surpassing the achievement at the earlier SEA Games edition in Vietnam.
Of the 11 aquatic medals bagged at the 2023 SEA Games, three gold, one silver, and three bronze medals were clinched by swimming athletes; one silver and one bronze was secured in diving; and one silver was claimed in men's water polo while one bronze was won by the women's team.
For the polo teams, Rp200 million was presented to the silver medal winners, while Rp100 million was offered to bronze medal winners.
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Translator: Arindra Meodia, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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