Indonesia Targets 45 Gold Medals in 2019 SEA Games
Jakarta. The Youth Affairs and Sports Ministry has set a target of 45 gold medals for the 30th Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11.
"The gold medal target has been set at 45, considering that in the 2017 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur we won 38 gold," ministry spokesman Gatot Dewa S. Broto said in Jakarta on Monday.
He admitted the odds for Indonesia to top the medal tallies in the Philippines are very low.
"It will be unrealistic to set a target to become the overall winner or even a runner-up [in the medal table]. We must remain optimistic, but at the same time we must consider the strength of our opponents," Gatot said.
Although Indonesia topped all the Southeast Asian countries when it hosted the 2018 Asian Games, Gatot said the achievement could not be used as a reference.
"The Asian Games, the Olympics and the SEA Games are different from each other. In the Olympics, the events are officially registered in the Olympics program, and the rules are similar to those in the Asian Games. The SEA Games is a bit different. The host country can change the number of events for each sport," Gatot said.
"We are not making excuses, but we want the people to know about this, in case we fail to become the overall winner," he said.
National Olympic Committee of Indonesia (NOC) chairman Raja Sapta Oktohari said Indonesia has set a budget of Rp 67 billion ($4.8 million) for the 2019 SEA Games, with the government covering Rp 59 billion.
Raja said his committee has received funding from several corporations who contributed Rp 8 billion.
Raja also mentioned that he had recently visited China to win support for Indonesia's dream of hosting the 2032 Olympics.
"We just came back from China last week to visit their NOC, and we were given their full support. And since the decision will be announced in 2024, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics could be the right time to start building momentum for our campaign. We will work with other ministries to build the Indonesian athletes' village [in Tokyo] to show the world we are ready to become an Olympics host. We will show them the success of our 2018 Asian Games and Paralympic Games," he said.
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