As the 2019 Special Olympics came to a close at Zayed Sports City in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, the national contingent can be proud of its achievement as it succeeded in winning 21 medals at the event for athletes with intellectual disabilities.

The medal count, consisting of 11 gold medals, six silvers and four bronzes, exceeded expectations.

The country’s track and field squad contributed the most gold medals, as they managed to grab four golds as well as four silvers. The badminton team followed in second place with three gold medals, and the swimming team came away with two gold medals and a bronze. The last two gold medals were won in table tennis and women’s futsal.

Deputy technical chief of the country’s delegation Mustafa Musa said the result proved the effort of all teams that underwent intensive training for about a year before participating in the event.

“This year, we actually received an unfortunate quota as there were many more team events than individual events. We will evaluate this in our report to the Special Olympics International [committee],” he said in a statement.

“We have to make a report containing an account of the training [that was conducted] throughout the year, what kind of training was conducted and the national and regional competitions [that were held],” he added.

Mustafa also noted that the development of the Special Olympics in the country was not yet fully comprehensive as it only centered in big cities.

“That will be our challenge and that of the related ministries — the Youth and Sports Ministry and the Social Affairs Ministry — since people with disabilities are the responsibility of the Social Affairs Ministry. It also relates to the higher education system as it has to do with adaptive sports education,” he added.

He went on to explain that the participation of a country in the Special Olympic World Games was also a measure of the country’s concern toward people with intellectual disabilities.

“With a big population, Indonesia has attracted special attention from the Special Olympics International Committee and this means that the government should take more interest in these people,” he concluded.

Indonesia sent 68 athletes, consisting of 54 athletes and 14 unified partners, to the event that kicked off on March 14. This year, the Special Olympics World Summer Games were joined by 7,500 athletes from 190 countries and around 20,000 volunteers.

The national contingent left Abu Dhabi on Friday.

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