Jakarta (ANTARA) – Chairman of the Indonesian Olympic Committee (KOI/NOC Indonesia) Raja Sapta Oktohari revealed a number of challenges for Indonesian sports ahead of the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France.
“I think this should be one of the manifestos for sport to become more independent. But this takes time and effort, and I’m sure all sports will understand what I’m saying, because I too was born from the sport of bicycle racing,” Okto said when met at the KOI Office in Jakarta, Friday.
Furthermore, Okto said that behind this challenge there is huge potential, especially from group or team sports, such as basketball, volleyball, to football. Moreover, team sports also contributed many medals to Indonesia at the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia, some time ago.
“Another phenomenon is group sports. We can see from the (SEA Games) Philippines, there was water polo, in (SEA Games) Vietnam appeared basketball and volleyball, and now in (SEA Games) Cambodia there are cricket, hockey, basketball, volleyball, to football. This euphoria must be added continuously because group sports definitely have more interaction with the community because there are more people than individual sports. On the other hand, if this group sport can qualify for the Olympics, that would be great,” explained Okto.
Also read: Okto: PSSI cannot be separated from Indonesia’s achievements in the SEA Games
“My challenge has been since becoming a CDM for the 2016 Rio Olympics, at that time Indonesia’s population was 234 million with 28 athletes sent to the Olympics. Today, our population is 270 million, we will also send 28 athletes. Malaysia and Singapore also sent not far from us, meaning something went wrong. This is what we want to encourage how to be dominant from the number of qualifications, “he added.
Furthermore, Okto hopes to realize the target of bringing Indonesia home more gold medals at the biggest sporting event in the world, namely the Olympics. He is also optimistic that Indonesian athletes will be able to make new history in Paris next year.
“I want Indonesia to get the most gold medals as long as Indonesia participates in the Olympics. And I’m sure that in Paris 2024 the number of qualifications will increase, and the gold will increase,” said Okto.
On paper, he continued, Indonesia is possible to get as much as two gold. So, if Indonesia can get three gold, then it will set a new record for the Red-White Contingent.
“Weightlifting has potential because Rahmat (Erwin Abdullah) has set a world record. We have rock climbing, we are quite confident in badminton, hopefully we can get into surfing, we are still confident in archery because (the preparation) is very serious. I think there will be many surprises in Paris 2024,” he said.
Also read: RALB KOI decides on 66 votes for congress members
Also read: KOI is satisfied with the achievements of team sports at the 2023 SEA Games
Reporter: Arnidhya Nur Zhafira
Editor: Eka Arifa Rusqiyati
COPYRIGHT © BETWEEN 2023
Tags: KOI reveals Indonesias sports challenges ahead Paris Olympics
-
