Indonesia: associations urged to submit budget proposals for Asiad

The National Sports Council (KONI) has urged all sports associations to submit their proposals to the Youth and Sports Ministry for prioritised funding for the Asian Games, following the ministry's announcement that it would give preferential treatment to nine associations.

"We expect all 17 sports associations to submit their funding proposals to the ministry so they can sign the MoU later this week and receive the disbursement two weeks later," KONI deputy and Asian Games national training camp head Hendardji Supandji said Wednesday (March 10).

The funding proposals include estimated expenses for the training, warm-up events, athletes' and coaches' allowance, and equipment procurement for the preparations ahead of the quadrennial event.

The preparations will take place over the next eight months.

KONI has approved 112 athletes from 17 disciplines, including track and field, archery, weightlifting, badminton, beach volleyball, bowling, rowing, sailing, wrestling, karate, wushu, taekwondo, fencing, tennis, aquatics, chess and cycling, to represent the country at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, scheduled for November 12 - 27.

The Youth and Sports Ministry said Tuesday that it would sign an MoU with nine sports associations that submitted their funding proposals for the Asian Games preparations.

"We've prepared MoUs with several sports associations, including for badminton, weightlifting, karate, taekwondo, sailing, rowing, beach volleyball, track and field and wushu," Tunas Dwidharto, an adviser to the sports minister, told The Jakarta Post.

"They'll be signed either Thursday or Friday."

He added the ministry had to date received proposals from only nine associations. He declined to say what the overall proposed budget was.

The ministry has a state budget allocation of Rp200 billion for the Indonesia Gold Programme (Prima), pending presidential instruction to get it disbursed.

Prima is a fusion of former sports minister Adhyaksa Dault's Top-Tier Athlete Program (PAL) and KONI's national training camp, and is aimed at raising the country's competitive level at international events.

"Our weightlifters are currently training in their own regions and their expenses are being covered by the respective provincial associations," Indonesian Weightlifting, Powerlifting and Bodybuilding Association (PABBSI) secretary-general Alamsyah Wijaya said Tuesday (March 9).