Indonesia to Send 28 Athletes to Rio Olympic Games 2016

Semarang, Central Java, 10 Syawal 1437/15 July 2016 (MINA) – Indonesia has confirmed it will send 28 athletes to the Olympic Games 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from August 5 to 21, Antara  reported.

The athletes will vie in seven sports, namely badminton, swimming, weightlifting, archery, athletics, rowing and cycling, said Lukman Niode, deputy chief of Satlak Prima task force which is in charge of the athletes selection.

Twenty five out of the 28 athletes have passed qualification for the Olympics and the rest take wild cards for the Rio Games, Niode said

“After the initial target for Satlak Prima was met, we are now hoping we can win gold medals again,” he said.

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According to data, the 28 athletes that have passed the prestigious multi-event consist of two for athletics, seven for weight lifting, four for archery, 10 for badminton, two for rowing, one for bike racing and two for swimming.

With a higher number of athletes participating in the Olympic Games in Brazil, it is hoped the tradition of winning gold medals will be restored again following the failure to win one at the London Olympic Games, he said.

“The wild card facility must be used well. Athletes who won wild cards were determined by their international principal organizations and in the case of athletics by IAAF and swimming by FINA,” he stated.

The Secretary General of PB PASI (National Athletic Association), Tigor Tanjung said he had submitted sprinter Sudirman Hadi for the Olympic Games following the failure of marathon runner Agus Prayogo to pass the qualification limit to join the Olympic Games at the Gold Coast Marathon 2016 in Australia on July 3.

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“We saw that Sudirman is still young and has quite a good performance clocking the best record at 10.47 seconds. That is why we decided to send him so that he could get more experience. If he fails to get a medal this time we hope he wins one later,” he said. (T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)

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