The National Sports Committee of Indonesia (KONI) has forged cooperation with South Korea to bolster Indonesian athletes' training for competitive sports.
The cooperation was discussed during a meeting between KONI Chairperson Marciano Norman and South Korean Ambassador to Indonesia Park Tae Sung at the KONI office here on Wednesday.
"The presence of Ambassador Park is meaningful because (your presence) bolsters our spirit. We have (a representative) of a friendly country here that could assist us in enhancing (training for) competitive sports. We hope we will have more meetings of this kind in future," Norman noted, as quoted from KONI's official webpage, on Thursday.
The KONI head told Park that the organization is keen to cooperate with South Korea in the training of several sporting disciplines, primarily football and archery.
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President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) had also issued a Presidential Instruction on enhancing the quality of national football sports, he pointed out.
Norman then expressed optimism that South Korea would send experienced coaches to help Indonesia enhance the quality of national coaches.
Apart from improving the coaches' quality, the KONI head is upbeat that cooperation would also be established in archery sports, as Indonesia is aiming to repeat the success of the national archery team that bagged the first medal for the nation at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.
"Indonesia's archery team in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul successfully bagged the bronze medal. We want to repeat the success by inviting South Korean coaches," Norman remarked.
The KONI head highlighted that earlier cooperation in taekwondo sports, when athlete Defia Rosmania was allowed to join intensive training sessions in South Korea, made her successful in winning a gold medal during the 2018 Asian Games.
Meanwhile, Ambassador Park welcomed KONI's intention and expressed optimism that the cooperation would continue to enhance Indonesia's performance in competitive sports.
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"South Korea and Indonesia had agreed to enhance bilateral cooperation since 2017," Park pointed out.
Bilateral relations between South Korea and Indonesia had been elevated to the level of special strategic partnership after President Moon Jae In's visit to Indonesia in 2017, he stated.
"Our cooperation in sports went into fruition during the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang when Indonesia Poomsae athlete (Defia Rosmaniar) won a gold medal. We hope the cooperation would expand to other sports, such as archery, baseball, and fencing, and others," Park stated.
The ambassador also affirmed his commitment to assisting KONI officials to meet South Korean experts and institution officials for further cooperation.
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Editor : Mahdani
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