Jakarta (ANTARA) - Chairperson of the executive board of the Indonesian Athletics Association (PB PASI) Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan has assured that the preparation of the Indonesian athletics team for the upcoming 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, has gone well.

"Now, we are (participating in a) TC (training camp) with 30 people in Tianjin, China. The training is better (there) because they are concentrated," he informed the press here on Thursday.

He said the training camp in Tianjin is one of the training programs for preparing Indonesian athletes for the competition. The association is still waiting for the construction of the National Athletics Training Center in Pangalengan, West Java, to be fully completed.

He informed that the training center, which can accommodate 100 athletes, is being built in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing and is targeted to be completed next year.

Pandjaitan, who is also serving as Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs, said that the association will send 15 athletes to compete in the games, which will be held in October.

One of the athletes whose name has been confirmed so far is sprinter Lalu Muhammad Zohri.

Regarding the medal target for the 2022 Asian Games, he affirmed that he has not set a specific target.

Nevertheless, he did not deny that a gold would be ideal. He said that the achievements of the Indonesian athletics team at the 2023 Cambodia SEA Games were very good.

"Hopefully, we can win gold," he remarked.

The 2022 Asian Games, which were originally scheduled for September 2022, were postponed to 2023.

Earlier, Youth and Sports Minister Dito Ariotedjo announced that Indonesia will send 415 athletes to compete in the Asian Games.

Related news: Indonesian para-athletic, para-swimming athletes haul gold once again
Related news: Indonesian sprinter wins gold medal in world athletic championship













Translator: Arnidhya Nur, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2023