TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Jokowi targets top spots for Indonesia at 2023 SEA Games
Just days before the 2023 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Cambodia is set to officially kick off on Friday, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo met with the Indonesian delegates at the Merdeka Palace in Central Jakarta on Tuesday, setting a target for Indonesia to finish higher than third at the event.
Change Size
Historic win: Indonesian basketball team celebrates after beating defending champion the Philippines in the gold medal match at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Hanoi on May 22, 2022. The 85-81 win gives Indonesia its first basketball gold medal ever in the regional sporting event. (Antara/Fauzi Saputra)
J
ust days before the 2023 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Cambodia set to officially kick off on Friday, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo met with the Indonesian delegates at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday, setting a target for Indonesia to finish higher than third at the event.
“In the [2021 SEA Games] in Vietnam, we finished third with a tally of 69 gold medals,” Jokowi said on Tuesday. “For this year, we have to do better. I want us to win more than 69 [gold medals] and rank higher than third, either first or second.”
Newly appointed Youth and Sports Minister Dito Ariotedjo who accompanied the President said originally, the ministry had set a target of winning 60 gold medals and placing third. “But the 'commander' has given the order, so we as 'soldiers' will of course strive to achieve that goal," Dito said on Tuesday.
The minister further explained that 599 Indonesian athletes would compete in 31 out of 36 sports at the biennial event. Among those 31 sports will be table tennis, which Indonesia had been forced to miss in the two previous editions over continuing internal power struggle within the Indonesian Table Tennis Association (PTMSI).
While Indonesia’s presence in table tennis was initially in jeopardy, Dito confirmed the two competing camps within PTMSI have agreed to put aside their differences, paving the way for Indonesia’s return for the 32nd SEA Games. “All the paperwork is in order; we’re only waiting for confirmation from Cambodia,”' Dito said, as reported by Tempo.co.
Read also: Quality over quantity: Indonesia eyes Olympics after SEA Games success
As is the case with the 2021 SEA Games in Vietnam, the majority of this year’s Indonesian delegates are classified as junior athletes, with Dito explaining around 70 percent were still in school or in college.
