According to KND commissioner Kikian Tarigan, this support can not only be seen in the annual budget, but also in the regional governments' awareness and understanding to find and train people who have the talent and capacity to become para athletes.
"This can be seen from the regional government's awareness of how valuable the participation of para athletes is at the regional and national level because they know it would impact the region's name positively," he explained in Jakarta on Monday.
When regional governments have the awareness and understanding, they will make efforts to prepare good coaching management, including training and budgeting for athletes scheduled to compete in sports competitions, he said.
Successful coaching is expected to increase the chances of athletes participating in the Paralympics longer because of skill and mental improvement.
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Therefore, support from regional governments is one way to improve the welfare and support the independence of people living with disability who have the talent to become athletes.
Such support would not only positively impact a region's image, but also increase regional revenue through taxes paid by the para athletes when they win.
Meanwhile, regarding budgeting, he said he believes there are many sources of funding — not only limited to regional budgets — that can be used to help regional para athletes participate in national and international competitions.
"There are actually many funding sources though they are quite tricky. They can be from private or foreign institutions, as long as the regional government has the awareness to pay attention and develop para athletes in their regions," he added.
He expressed the hope that regional government support for para athletes would be realized through collaboration with organizations, institutions, or communities in the regions.
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Translator: Hana Dewi, Raka Adji
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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