Health of PON Papua athletes must be paid attention to

Chairman of the Central Indonesian National Sports Committee (KONI) Marciano Norman said coaches and athletes who will compete in the Papua 2021 National Sports Week (PON) are required to maintain their health.

"Obey the health protocol rules to maintain the fitness of athletes who will be prepared to compete in PON Papua," he said when he was in Palangka Raya, Friday.

He explained that the training of athletes during the COVID-19 pandemic was limited. In addition to maintaining the health of athletes and coaches, KONI administrators are required to find solutions so that when they train, they are guaranteed to be safe from the potential spread of COVID-19.

"I hope that with the inauguration of the new Central Kalimantan KONI, the athletes who participate in the national agenda can boast the Indonesian people, especially their regions," he explained.

Regarding the budget, he said, the Chairman of the Central Kalimantan KONI, Eddy Raya Samsuri, was asked to communicate with the Governor Sugianto Sabran.

Even though the budget in all regions has been sucked in to deal with the COVID-19 problem, sport is of course also very important to pay attention to.

"Regarding the budget, I also hope that the Chairman of the Central Kalimantan KONI can communicate with the regional head so that the budget does not become a problem for participating in PON or other agendas," he said.

In his remarks, the Chairman of the Central Kalimantan KONI, Eddy Raya Samsuri, said that preparations for the PON, both the management and various sports, had also been prepared.

In the near future, KONI will evaluate the sports that have been included in the PON. The evaluation aims to ascertain which branches have the potential to gain gold or achievements.

"Any sport that has a great potential to win gold will continue to be supervised. Then PON should not be used as a participation event, but must increase performance in the sports field," he said.