Awaiting Achievements as Host

Kompas/Priyombodo

Lamps and loudspeakers at the Bung Karno stadium renovation project in Senayan, Central Jakarta, are tested on Tuesday (8/8). The stadium renovation, which will be used for the 2018 Asian Games, has reached 82 percent completion.

Amid all the regional elections in 17 provinces and 154 cities and regencies, Indonesia will host another huge event in 2018. After 56 years, Indonesia will again host the Asian Games on August 18-September 2 and the Asian Para Games on October 6-13.

The Olympic Council of Asia chose Jakarta and Palembang as co-hosts, replacing Hanoi in Vietnam who withdrew as host. This means that, for the first time, the Asian Games will be held in two cities.

At the 2018 Games, 40 sports will be in competition and 462 gold medals in contention. The sports include 28 sports from the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, five new sports to be held at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and seven popular Asian sports.

Serving as host can be beneficial. Organizers can negotiate additional sports in line with Indonesia’s strengths. Athletes will compete with full support from their attending fans. In terms of infrastructure, the construction and renovation of sports arenas and supporting infrastructure will benefit the people in the long run.

Indonesia is planning for success. Herein lies the problem. Thus far in 2017, our sports achievements have left a lot to be desired.

Securing only fifth place at the 2017 SEA Games, just one year before hosting the Asian Games, was nothing to be proud of. In the sports with the most medals, including athletics, swimming and shooting, Indonesia has to acknowledge the superiority of Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore.

The 2017 SEA Games national training camp (pelatnas) left many unresolved problems, the government through Presidential Regulation no. 95/2017 on improving national sports achievements shifted the responsibility of managing the pelatnas from the government’s Satlak Prima athlete training system to each of the sports.

Kompas/Priyombodo

Jakarta’s women’s platform divers, Maria Natalie Dinda/Linadini Yasmin, at the final platform diving 3-meter synchronization of the 2017 Indonesia Open National Swimming Competition at the Bung Karno Aquatic Stadium in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Tuesday (5/12). The competition is part of the trial ahead of the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta-Palembang.

Designed to cut bureaucratic red tape, the decision instead left those in sports associations confused. Athletes’ training proposals and verification must be completed in a short time to ensure timely fund disbursement so that the training camp for the Asian Games can be set up in January 2018.

With such a short preparation time, many are doubtful that the target of 20 gold medals from 23 priority sports can be achieved. Hope emerges from the achievements of a number of local athletes this year, including in badminton, rock climbing and paragliding. However, extra hard work remains necessary so that Indonesian athletes will not be merely passive observers in their own home.

In terms of management, classic problems on funding puts a burden on the Indonesian Asian Games 2018 Organizing Committee (Inasgoc) and a number of expense items must be erased from the budget. Nine sports test events in February will be the first real test of Inasgoc’s preparedness for holding the 2018 Asian Games.

The achievements of Indonesian Paralympic athletes are far more promising after emerging as winners of the 2017 ASEAN Para games. However, hard and fast work is necessary to improve sports arenas and supporting facilities to make them accessible by special needs athletes who participate in the Asian Para Games, especially those with wheelchairs.

Indonesia has reached the point of no return in bearing the huge responsibility as host. In just a matter of months, Asia’s largest sports event will have to be held. Everyone must work together so that we can be great hosts and encourage our athletes to be the best.

From past experiences, we can see that sports achievements can build pride and bring the nation together. As politics have become more divisive in recent times, the 2018 Asian Games is the perfect moment to bring everyone back together.