SEA Games 31: Indonesian sports delegation targets top four

Indonesian U23 players arrive in Vietnam to attend SEA Games 31 (Photo: VNA)

Jakarta (VNA) – The Indonesian sports delegation to the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31) is targeting to rank in the top four at the biggest regional sport event that will take place in Vietnam from May 12 to 23.

"(This is) because the SEA Games is a secondary target to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics, and this time, we will try to stay in the top four," Antar news agency quoted Ferry Kono, head of the Indonesian sport delegation, as saying in an interview broadcast on the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube channel on May 9.

Kono expressed optimism that President Joko Widodo's aspirations conveyed at the team's dispatch ceremony at the Merdeka Palace on May 9 would motivate and boost the athletes' sense of nationalism to deliver achievements in SEA Games 31.

For this SEA Games, Indonesia dispatches a strong delegation, of 778 members comprising 499 athletes and 214 officials as well as 63 assistants.

The athletes will compete in 318 events and 32 sports out of the 40 sports branches.

According to Ferry, the delegation has started to depart from May 3 and will continue in stages. Some have arrived in Hanoi, and some will depart after the dispatch ceremony.

Indonesia was earlier placed fifth in the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore and the 2017 SEA Games in Malaysia. The country had then secured fourth place in the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines./.

VNA