"My hope is that KONI will be more innovative, that the national sports week that is held once in four years can have smaller events that are held once in one or two years," he expounded at the inauguration of the KONI management for the 2023–2027 period here on Tuesday.
According to the Minister, KONI can hold smaller events like a martial arts sports week, beach sports week, and teenager sports week.
Ariotedjo also conveyed a special message from President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) seeking the merging of teenager and student sports weeks.
"President Jokowi wants us to merge teenager and student sports weeks. We will discuss this with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology," he said.
He added that KONI must convey more innovative ideas related to the combined sports week.
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Ariotedjo said that the implementation of the youth sports week would have a domino effect on the development of athletes across Indonesia and on other sectors, including sports tourism.
"For example, beach sports week every two years and teenager sports week once a year. The domino effects will be felt," he affirmed.
He also praised the steps taken by KONI to establish cooperation with overseas universities for the development of sports science in the country.
"I laud KONI's steps in collaborating with universities in other countries. This is a good step to improve the quality of sports through human resources," Ariotedjo said.
Meanwhile, KONI chairperson Marciano Norman expressed the hope that young KONI members will absorb as much knowledge as possible to lead the committee in the next period.
KONI has also helped develop the sports industry by cooperating with more than one thousand local micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
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Translator: Fajar S, Kenzu
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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