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.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsBeach Games bust clouds RI’s hosting future
Country squandered chance to prove capacity: Expert.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
T
he blame game over Indonesia withdrawing as the host of this year’s World Beach Games in Bali looks likely to deal a fresh blow to the nation’s hosting credibility for more global sporting tournaments, as the move forced the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) to cancel the event just weeks before the competition was scheduled to start.
The second ANOC World Beach Games, the world’s third biggest multi-event sports competition after the Summer and Winter Olympics, was slated to feature more than 100 national Olympic teams in the beach and water sports categories to draw in millions of visitors to aid in the holiday island’s post-pandemic recovery.
But exactly one month before the scheduled opening of the Games, the country’s National Olympic Committee (NOC Indonesia) announced that it had withdrawn as host due to lack of preparation and budget constraints, catching sporting teams and authorities alike off guard.
“We have no other choice but to swallow this bitter pill because with the limited time, we saw that it was difficult to prepare for a world-class multi-event [competition],” NOC Indonesia head Raja Sapta “Okto” Oktohari said in a statement on Wednesday.
He also suggested that bureaucratic red tape was to blame for the insufficient time to prepare for the Games, which was made worse by the withdrawal of several sponsors.
But Youth and Sports Minister Dito Ariotedjo was quick to hit back, saying the government had given the committee ample time for preparations after the country was named in June last year as the host of the 2023 Beach Games.
“The government immediately asked the NOC to prepare [for the Games] as effectively and efficiently as possible,” the Golkar Party politician said separately on Wednesday.
