The Indonesian Sports Ministry has approved a plan to send 250 athletes to the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Laos, says a senior ministerial aide.
“We have approved KONI [the National Sports Council] to send 250 athletes to the SEA Games,” Tunas Dwidharto, deputy secretary at the minister’s office, told The Jakarta Post.
He added the ministry was also ready to channel Rp 5 billion in financial aid to reach the total Rp 19.5 billion needed for the Laos mission.
The announcement comes a day after Djoko Pramono, the KONI chief in charge of preparing the contingent, said the council was awaiting a ministry decision on whether to send 250 or 155 athletes to the Games that will run from Dec. 9-18.
“The Rp 5 billion will be available as soon as possible after the contingent is formed,” Tunas said.
Djoko confirmed the agreement between the ministry and KONI, and said the final phase of training would start on Oct. 19 instead of Oct. 12 as initially scheduled.
Indonesia plans to compete in 22 of 26 sports on offer at the games.
Twelve of 22 sports associations have submitted their list of athletes: billiards/snooker, tennis, wrestling, tae kwon do, sepak takraw, archery, judo, pencak silat, shooting, badminton, fin swimming and wushu.
Others, including weightlifting, golf, table tennis, volleyball, track and field, karate, cycling, soccer and boxing, are expected to follow suit by Oct. 25, when KONI must submit its final list to the Games organizer.
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