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ASEAN promotes collective pride by honoring athletes
Inspiring: ASEAN officials, ambassadors and Rio Olympic medalists pose together during an event staged by the ASEAN secretariat to honor sporting heroes on Wednesday
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span class="inline inline-center">Inspiring: ASEAN officials, ambassadors and Rio Olympic medalists pose together during an event staged by the ASEAN secretariat to honor sporting heroes on Wednesday. The event was held to strengthen solidarity among ASEAN member countries and also to promote healthy lifestyle and sportsmanship values in the region.(JP/Dicky Christanto)
ASEAN leaders paid tribute to the Rio Olympics and Paralympics medalists for their significant roles in promoting the values of sportsmanship.
“We honor these inspiring athletes and thank all ASEAN member states for their participation in the global sports forum,” deputy secretary-general of ASEAN for Socio Cultural Community Vongthep Arthakaivalvatee told an event held to honor the athletes on Wednesday.
At the event, Arthakaivalvatee said regional citizens are encouraged to share their pride in the achievements made by their neighboring countries’ athletes. He viewed this as a way to build community among ASEAN nations.
“ASEAN cannot become a true community without the people sharing their pride,” he added.
He said the event was part of the strategies discussed at the September Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) on Sports where promoting sports was deemed as a tool to raise public awareness. Besides promotion through sports, a variety of educational and cultural activities are being utilized to spread the same message across the region, he added.
Speaking in a similar tone, Dato Ahmad Shapawi, the director-general of the National Sports Council of Malaysia, said the inaugural event should be viewed as an important stepping stone that could become a solid foundation for all involved stakeholders in the region to develop plans to enable regional athletes to continue to compete internationally.
“We can start discussing strategies on how to enhance our athletes’ skills, so they are prepared for future challenges in international competition,” he said.
He also suggested that all sports stakeholders should maintain a focus on developing sports that are played in the Olympics.
As a start, he added, as many as 60 Indonesian swimmers and divers from Medan, North Sumatra, were invited to train in Malaysia.
Recognition was given to 49 athletes from five ASEAN member countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, who had received gold, silver and bronze medals during the Rio Olympics, which lasted from Aug. 5 to 21 and Paralympics, which lasted from Sept. 7 to 18.
Commenting on the event, Vietnamese Hoang Xuan Vinh, gold and silver medalist shooter, said the athletes appreciated the support that has been given to them, saying that all the sacrifice and effort was done so he could see, “the happiness in the millions of eyes of my countrymen”.
He also said that the credit should be directed at the government and the people who have been supportive from the start.
Indonesian Ni Nengah Widiasih, bronze medalist powerlifter in the Rio Paralympics, said she wanted to respond to the appreciation by continuing her trainings as she aims to participate in upcoming regional events like 2017 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur and 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang and also the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“But first I need to recover from my injuries before continuing my training,” she said.
