South Kalimantan maintains fourth place at Papua Peparnas

Banjarmasin, S Kalimantan (ANTARA) - South Kalimantan contingent has successfully maintained the fourth position of the most medals at the XVI National Paralympic Week (Peparnas) in Papua.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has fulfilled his promise to attend the closing ceremony of Peparnas at Mandala Stadium in Jayapura on Saturday.

He lauded the successful implementation of the XVI Papua National Paralympic Week from November 5–13, 2021 in Jayapura district and city.

Here, Head of the South Kalimantan Youth and Sport Agency H Hermansyah expressed his pride for the achievements made by the South Kalimantan National Paralympic Committee (NPC) athletes. He pledged there will be a bonus for all the winners.

"Insya Allah (God Willing) there will be a bonus for them (from the provincial government)," he said.

Hermansyah has not yet said the amount of the bonus to be presented to the winner athletes. ""It will be handed over in 2022," he said.

Hermansyah on behalf of the provincial government expressed his infinite gratitude and was very proud of the extraordinary struggle of the South Kalimantan NPC athletes. They have collected 41 gold medals.

"Alhamdulillah (praise be to Allah), a tremendous thank to South Kalimantan NPC, our target is the top 5 but we penetrate the top 4 with more than 40 gold medals," he pointed out.

Hermansyah, who had accompanied the athletes in Papua, said that he witnessed and felt the athletes' real struggle in the midst of limitations.

"They continue to practice with the spirit of waja sampai kaputing (to fight to the end), finally they proved they can achieve it and become a pride of South Kalimantan," he said.

South Kalimantan won a total 133 medals at the Papua Peparnas, with details, 41 gold medals, 43 silver medals, and 49 bronze medals.

This achievement has placed South Kalimantan at the fourth after Central Java (3), West Java (2), and Papua (1).

South Kalimantan NPC fielded 135 athletes to compete in 10 sports, namely table tennis, swimming, athletic, judo, archery, shooting, weight lifting, chess, and CP football.