Kupastuntas.co, Bandar Lampung - The Lampung Province Indonesian National Sports Committee will field 11 Sports Branches at the 2023 Sumatra Regional Sports Week in Riau this September.

This was conveyed by Edi Purwanto, commissioner of Public Relations at the Lampung Indonesian National Sports Committee for the 2019-2023 period. He said, of the 11 Sports Branches, 3 of them were proposals from the host Riau.

He explained, the 8 sports are Athletics, Swimming, Chess, Volleyball, Soccer, Pencak Silat, Rock Climbing, Takraw. While the 3 sports proposed by Riau are Kempo, Archery and Taekwondo.

Regarding the number of athletes to be fielded, he said it was the authority of each sport branch.

"The Regional Sports Week also depends on the host. If he doesn't have athletes, maybe he won't compete in that sport. Maybe Riau's strengths are in Taekwondo, Kempo and Archery, so he proposed it," he said. Wednesday, March 1, 2023.

He said, facing the Riau Regional Sports Week in September 2023, the Lampung Indonesian National Sports Committee is still in the stage of changing management so it has not yet prepared a program for athletes.

"Still waiting for the management under the leadership of Mr. Arinal, only later will you know what the program is. The timeframe is around 15 days to form the management of the Provincial Sports Conference. This management will determine the Regional Sports Week program," he explained.

Regarding the medal target, he said that every sport knows the target and the readiness of the athletes.

"The Regional Sports Week is to determine qualification for the National Sports Week, so the Regional Sports Week is the qualifying round before the National Sports Week, medals are relative. Each sport always targets its athletes to qualify as many times as possible," he said.

For the sports that the Lampung Indonesian National Sports Committee relies on, he said every sport is certainly relied on by his party, one of which is the Martial Arts branch.

"Actually Self-defense is quite reliable, but self-defense already exists in several other National Championships, not all of which are competed in the National Sports Week," he stated.

He said the training center for athletes has not been carried out so far, because that is the authority of the management of the newest Indonesian National Sports Committee.

"Not yet, because the determining training center is the management of the Indonesian National Sports Committee, they will hold work meetings with sports branches participating in the Regional Sports Week and Pre-National Sports Week, so the possibility of having a training center or not is mutually agreed upon," he explained.

"For the National Sports Week, it is usually mandatory to have a training center. For the Regional Sports Week, sometimes it is held, sometimes it is not, seeing the need," he said.

He hopes that the athletes can prepare well and optimally to achieve the best performance and qualify for the 2024 National Sports Week in North Sumatra-Aceh.

"Use the best time, because the Regional Sports Week is likely to be held in September 2023, so time is running out," he concluded. (*)