“Insya Allah (God willing), the Indonesian contingent will get a better achievement,” he said in a statement from his ministry on Thursday.
Ariotedjo made the statement during an event for the signing of a cooperation agreement between the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the National Paralympic Committee of Indonesia (NPC Indonesia) on Wednesday (March 6).
He said he is optimistic that the target of two gold medals in para badminton and para athletics set by NPC Indonesia can be achieved, as it has been made through careful consideration.
Ariotedjo said, in the qualifiers for the 2024 Paralympics, the achievements of the athletes will also be clearly visible based on data and statistics.
He believes that the good growth of NPC Indonesia in the last few years, including since the 2018 Asian Para Games, makes Indonesian athletes ready to make achievements in the 2024 Paralympics.
“In the 2022 Asian Para Games, we made many historic breakthroughs. The NPC made historic breakthroughs in achievements, and the rank also rose to sixth,” he remarked.
In the 2018 Asian Para Games, during which Indonesia hosted the event, it bagged 37 gold medals, 47 silver medals, and 51 bronze medals. At that time, Indonesia only targeted winning 16 gold medals.
Of the figures, Indonesia’s para badminton team contributed six gold medals, five silver medals, and four bronze medals. Meanwhile, the paralympic athletics team contributed six gold medals, 12 silver medals, and 10 bronze medals.
NPC Indonesia is targeting Indonesian athletes to qualify for 10 sports at the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games. Out of a total of 51 athletes partaking in national centralized training, 27 are targeted to qualify for the Paralympics.
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Translator: Aloysius Lewokeda, Raka Adji
Editor: Anton Santoso
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