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[YEARENDER] RI athletes see silver lining after going through pandemic resilience test
The latest blow to the Indonesian sports community was the postponement of the soccer U-20 World Championship, which was earlier slated for 2021, but then FIFA, citing the COVID-19 pandemic as the main reason, decided to postpone it to 2023. The decision was made on Christmas Eve.
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Indonesia Soccer Association (PSSI) chief Comr. Gen. Mochammad Iriawan gives motivating speech to the members of the senior National Team and U-19 National Squad who train at the Madya Stadium that located within the Gelora Bung Karno Sporting Complex on Aug.15. (JP/Courtesy of www.pssi.org)
Y
outh and Sports Minister Zainudin Amali has acknowledged that 2020 brought him mixed feelings. He realized that the COVID-19 pandemic was a blessing in disguise as many people had taken up a sport to be healthier.
During the pandemic people across the country started cycling, jogging and hiking in order to improve their physical condition. However, on the other side, the Golkar Party politician has also noticed that the pandemic had emptied sports’ finest stages and, thus, forced athletes to keep training rather than competing.
The latest blow to the Indonesian sports community was the postponement of the soccer U-20 World Championship, which was earlier slated for 2021, but then FIFA, citing the COVID-19 pandemic as the main reason, decided to postpone it to 2023. The decision was made on Christmas Eve.
Commenting on this, Zainudin said the government comprehended the reason behind the postponement but then acknowledged that the government would need to discuss the subsequent plan.
“We understand the reason but then we need to gather and further discuss with local stakeholders to discuss technicalities like the age of our players and all the preparation work that is currently ongoing,” he said.
Zainudin added that, aside from the latest postponement, Indonesian athletes had faced postponements since March.
“We have seen the cancelation of the 10th ASEAN Para Games in Manila and the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, among other events, due to the virus. These very specific conditions forced our athletes to adjust their routines and keep practicing to stay in shape, physically and mentally,” Zainudin told The Jakarta Post recently.
