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Indonesia could field team of 31 athletes at 2020 Olympics: NOC
The NOC hopes to send a larger contingent to the 2020 Olympics than it sent to the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, where the country was represented by 28 athletes.
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Logos of Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. (Tokyo2020/Tokyo2020)
T
he Indonesian National Olympic Committee (NOC) believes it could field at team of 31 athletes at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.
“As of today, 31 athletes have the potential to go [to the Olympics]. But this is only an assumption; we may have less or more [athletes],” NOC chief Raja Sapta “Okto” Oktohari said Thursday as quoted by Antara news agency.
The NOC hopes to send a larger contingent to the 2020 Olympics than it sent to the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, where the country was represented by 28 athletes.
Okto, who took over the role as NOC chief in October from Erick Thohir, the state-owned enterprises minister, said he was determined to meet the target, adding he was confident athletes in badminton, weightlifting, gymnastics and even sport climbing still had a chance to qualify for the Olympics.
Presently, Okto said, the NOC was waiting for a decision from the youth and sports minister on Team Indonesia’s chef de mission. The chef de mission will lead the contingent at the Olympics.
Indonesia has won just one gold medal at each Olympic Games since 1996, with the exception of the 2012 London Olympics when Indonesian went home with just one silver and one bronze. Okto said Team Indonesia was hoping to raise the bar at the Tokyo Games.
Indonesia managed a laudable performance at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, where it won two gold medals in men’s singles and women’s singles badminton. Every Olympic gold medal Indonesia has won has been in badminton.
At present, just three Indonesian athletes have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics: sprinter Lalu Muhammad Zohri, Ega Riau Agatha in archery and Vidya Rafika in shooting.
An Indonesian gymnast and two sport climbers have blown golden opportunities to qualify for the Games at their respective qualifiers in October and November.
Rifda Irfanaluthfi, Indonesia’s current brightest star in gymnastics, flopped at October’s 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, after suffering a groin injury.
The 2018 Asian Games gold medalist failed to find her best form after setbacks in her preparations. The 20-year-old was supposed to attend an intensive training camp shortly after the Asian Games to ensure she hit peak form at the qualifiers, but the plan was cancelled for financial reasons.
Rifda’s final chance to qualify for Tokyo will come at the 2020 Continental Championships, where she will be up against a field of talented competitors, including world class athletes from North Korea and China.
Meanwhile, Indonesian star climber Aries Susanti Rahayu and young gun Alfian M. Fajri failed to secure a ticket to Tokyo after finishing 16th and 13th, respectively, at November’s International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) Combined Qualifier 2019 in Toulouse, France.
Read also: Ticket to Tokyo almost out of reach for Indonesia’s sport climbers
The 2020 Olympics will only feature a combined climbing event, featuring lead climbing, speed climbing and bouldering. Both Aries and Fajri’s strongest discipline is speed climbing.
The pair will have one last opportunity to qualify for the Tokyo Games at the Asia Championship in May, 2020, in Morioka, Japan.
