Eyeing more Olympic medals in the future, Indonesia aims to develop sports with high winning potential, including badminton, weightlifting, archery, rowing and track and field.

“Prioritize sports that have excellent qualities — in terms of facilities, infrastructure and training camps,” President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said after meeting with the Indonesian athletes who participated in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The President said he believed Indonesia could get more medals in the future if more sports were developed.

Badminton mixed doubles pair Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir won gold in Rio, while weightlifters Sri Wahyuni Agustiani and Eko Yuli Irawan took home silver medals in the quadrennial event.

Responding to Jokowi’s instruction, Youth and Sports Minister Imam Nahrawi said he would develop a plan to place elite athletes in a national’s sports training camp at the Olympic Center Cibubur in East Jakarta.

“We plan to relocate weightlifting and archery training camps, among others, to Cibubur,” Imam said, adding that the center was equipped with training facilities, a dormitory, medical services and other supporting facilities.

Imam was confident the plan could be realized with the President’s support.

“To start with, we will focus on financial and policy grounds,” he said, adding that his ministry would need help from other parties, as the project required a large sum of money, although he did not elaborate.

Gita Wiryawan - JP/Wendra Ajistyatama

Imam claimed Jokowi had approved establishing a foundation to manage financial support for sports development and competitions in Indonesia.

“The President has just approved [our proposal] to establish a foundation overseeing sports funding, in order to give bonuses and other support to well-achieving athletes,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) is focusing on a regeneration program ahead of the 2020 Olympics, which will be held in Tokyo, Japan.

PBSI chief Gita Wiryawan underlined the importance of early grooming.

As part of the efforts, the PBSI has incorporated training programs with sports science, in which each athlete’s physical fitness will be closely monitored.

“We will design a rigorous training regimen so we can follow the journey of our athletes, including their psychological condition right from the start. I believe we can achieve more in the future,” said Gita at the PBSI headquarters in Cipayung, East Jakarta.

Gita also said Indonesia was home to many highly qualified shuttlers like Anthony Sinisuka Ginting and Ihsan Maulana Mustofa in men’s singles as well as mixed doubles pair Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto.

“So be patient. It is just a matter of time before they make us proud again,” he said, citing that it was not impossible for Indonesia to snatch three or four medals at the Tokyo Olympics.

In the history of Indonesia’s participation in the Summer Olympics since 1952, badminton athletes have taken home the most medals.

Indonesia has collected 30 Olympic medals (seven gold, 12 silver and 11 bronze), 19 of which were contributed by badminton with seven gold, six silver and six bronze. Weightlifting came second with 10 medals, while archery has one.