PON XX PAPUA 2021 OFFICIALLY OPENED WITH HIGH OPTIMISM
The 20th National Sports Week was officially opened.
The XX National Sports Week (Pekan Olahraga Nasional - PON) sports event in Jayapura was officially opened, Saturday (2/10/2021). President Joko Widodo officially opened the four-year competition.
The President invited the public to celebrate the 20th PON with full of joy. Not to forget, athletes are expected to uphold sportsmanship, strengthen brotherhood and togetherness, equality, unity and integrity.
This sporting event will take place from October 2 to 15, 2021. Around 6,000 athletes will compete for 766 medals from 36 sports and 56 categories.
The main venue for the PON was held at the Lukas Enembe Stadium, East Sentani, Jayapura Regency. The stadium has a capacity of 40,000 spectators. In addition to Jayapura, the location of the PON is also located in the cities of Jayapura, Merauke and Mimika.
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The opening ceremony was also lively. In addition to the fireworks display that made the Jayapura sky lively, a row of top Indonesian singers voiced their voices at the opening ceremony. There was Tulis, Ruth Sahanaya, Nowela, Edo Kondologit, Lea Simanjuntak, Albert Fakdawer, and several other names.
The opening ceremony then continued with the defile of the contingent of athletes from each province competing in the Papua PON. There were also representatives from 34 provinces and referees who participated in the defile.
Representatives of the Papuan contingent became the last. They closed the parade of athletes in the opening ceremony. After that, the flag parade of 34 provinces was followed.
President Joko Widodo expressed his pride that PON could be held for the first time in Papua. This could be a sign of Papua's progress in infrastructure and the ability to organize major events on a national and international level.
"My feelings and yours must be the same, we are proud to be in Papua. And we are proud to be in the best stadium in Asia Pacific. We are proud to open the 20th PON, the PON which will be held in Papua," said Widodo.
"This Sports Week shows Papua's capabilities, shows the readiness of infrastructure in Papua, and the readiness of the Papuan people to organize big events to achieve national and international achievements," said Widodo.
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The event, which was delayed for a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, made preparations to construct four sports areas, namely the Aquatic Arena, Papua Bangkit Sports Palace, Cricket Arena and indoor and outdoor hockey fields. Papua has spent more than Rp 2 trillion to build an international standard sports arena.
The contested sports include aero-sport, aquatics, fencing, weight lifting, athletics, motorcycle racing, billiards, basketball, judo, karate, cricket, gymnastics, football and futsal. Several exhibition sports were exhibited in this PON. These sports include E-sports, ju-jitsu, kurash, kickboxing, paramotoring, sambo, surfing, pentathlon, and triathlon.
PON itself is the most anticipated national sports plan. It was first held in Solo, Central Java, in 1948. At that time, Indonesia could not participate in the 1948 Olympics because Indonesia's independence had not been recognized. Indonesia was not a member of the International Olympic Committee.
Then to treat this disappointment, a National Sports Week event was created. Until now, various cities have become the host, with Jakarta being the most.
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