KONI to set ruling on PON participants<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The excitement surrounding the 15th National
\nGames (PON) in Surabaya is less than the upcoming Euro 2000 in
\nthe Netherlands and Belgium. However, the importance of national
\nathletes competing in the quadrennial event remains an
\ninteresting discussion at home.<\/p>\n
The National Sports Council (KONI) official in charge of
\nathletes' development, Mochammad Hindarto, said on Thursday that
\nin the future the council must issue a regulation on the age of
\nparticipating athletes in PON.<\/p>\n
\"PON is staged to recruit potential athletes to be groomed to
\nrepresent the country at a higher level of multisport events,
\nincluding the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, Asian Games (Asiad)
\nand Olympics,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"But some provinces do not think about this purpose. They only
\nconsider their own pride, ignoring the importance of talent
\nscouting and athletes' development programs.\"<\/p>\n
\"If all sport organizations and provinces only relied on
\nveteran athletes, what about the youngsters? When will we give
\nthem a chance to showcase their skills?\"<\/p>\n
Hindarto referred to a SEA Games seminar in Kuala Lumpur
\nrecently which highlighted the possibility of limiting the age of
\nparticipants to under 23 years of age.<\/p>\n
\"The consideration was that athletes under 23 can still
\nimprove to perform better at Asiad and the Olympics because the
\nidea of staging SEA Games is to enable Southeast Asian athletes
\nto perform in both major events.\"<\/p>\n
\"This matter can be discussed in the SEA Games Federation
\ncouncil meeting soon.\"<\/p>\n
Hindarto was responding to a request from the West Java
\nchapter of the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) to
\ninclude Olympics qualifiers in PON.<\/p>\n
\"PBSI has sent a letter with the names of 19 competitors in
\nPON. KONI will forward the letter to the PON organizing committee
\nto not permit them (from competing). This is for a bigger
\npurpose.\"<\/p>\n
West Java has registered Marlev Mainaky, Taufik Hidayat, Ricky
\nSubagja, Rexy Mainaky, Candra Wijaya, Flandy Limpele, Elysa
\nNathanael and Lidya Djaelawidjaja to compete in PON.<\/p>\n
PBSI has scrapped the idea, saying the shuttlers were
\nprioritized to retain the Olympics gold medal tradition in
\nbadminton for Indonesia. (yan)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/koni-to-set-ruling-on-pon-participants-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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