"Let's make National Sports Day 2023 a momentum to succeed," the President said in a statement received here on Saturday.
Athletes who gain sports achievements can make the nation proud on the world stage, he observed.
Meanwhile, with a healthy body and soul and optimistic spirit, the community can also succeed greatly.
"Athletes succeed with achievements that make the nation proud. People succeed in making exercise a lifestyle that forms a healthy body, optimistic spirit, clear mind, and high self-confidence," he added.
Similarly, Onward Indonesia Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said that sports teach perseverance and inculcate a fighting spirit.
"Any sport teaches about the meaning of hard work, dedication, and perseverance," Anung added in a statement on the 40th National Sports Day.
In line with this year's National Sports Day theme, "Arena of a Winner's Spirit," which reflects the competitive spirit and strong determination to win, he highlighted the importance of sportsmanship.
"If you win, you need to be grateful, and if you lose, you still have to stand strong and accept defeat in sports. Because (the line between) winning and losing in sports is very thin, but with it, our soul becomes very strong," he said.
He then invited the public to exercise and engage in sports daily.
"Let's make sports our daily lifestyle and realize an advanced Indonesia and a greater Indonesia that is more united," he said.
Earlier on Friday (September 8, 2023), Minister of Youth and Sports Dito Ariotedjo opened the 2023 Youth and Sports National Coordination Meeting at the Jakarta International Velodrome.
The national meeting, which was themed "Resilient Youths, Advanced Sports, Advanced Indonesia," was expected to serve as a forum to strengthen national sports development efforts.
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Translator: Rangga J, Kenzu
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2023
