Jakarta (ANTARA) - General chairman of the Indonesian National Sports Committee (KONI) Marciano Norman has proposed that the Youth National Sports Week (PON) be held one more time to prepare athletes for international competitions.
He made the proposal during the national working meeting of KONI here on Wednesday.
He deemed Youth PON as quite important to prepare Indonesian athletes who will participate in the Youth Olympic Games and Asian Youth Games.
"Of course, this should be done through a close discussion and strong support from the Youth and Sports Ministry so that we could hold Youth PON once more as a preparation for the Asian Youth Games and Youth Olympic Games," he added.
The Youth and Sports Ministry had decided not to hold Youth PON in 2017 because there was already a similar championship for youth athletes, namely the National Student Sports Week (Popnas), he noted.
The decision was also made by the ministry for the sake of budget efficiency, he said.
Norman then proposed several other championships that could be held in Indonesia that could serve as a good training platform for athletes who will participate in international competitions.
To prepare athletes for the Asian and World Beach Games, he suggested holding a national water sports championship titled Indonesia Beach Games.
In addition, he also suggested Indonesia Mix Martial Art Games be held to prepare athletes for the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.
"We are also proposing a national martial art sports week with taekwondo and pencak silat fighting under one national event which will produce national champions," he said.
He also suggested a national indoor sports week.
The meeting is being held from December 8–10, 2021 in Jakarta. Representatives from 34 provincial KONI and leaders of 72 sports branches, members of KONI are taking part in the meeting.
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