Harry Warganegara speaks of Indonesian prospects at SEA Games
JAKARTA: The Indonesian Olympic Committee (KOI) has appointed Harry Warganegara to be chef de mission (CDM) of the Indonesian contingent for the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in the Philippines, which takes place from Nov 30 to Dec 11.
The 48-year-old is chairman of the Indonesia Olympic Committee’s (KOI) Sports Development Commission since 2015.
In an exclusive interview in Jakarta before his departure to the Philippines, he answers questions posed to him on the Indonesian contingent and his thoughts on the challenges ahead.
Bernama (B): How has the preparations of the Indonesian contingent been for the Games
Harry (H): Still working hard till time for departure. Some sports are still in training and are being tried out under official monitoring. Up to last Sunday, six sport teams have arrived in the Philippines.
B: How big is the Indonesian contingent
H: Our contingent consists of 840 athletes, of which 60 per cent are male and 40 per cent female. Our officials are 470 people for a total contingent of 1,310.
B: How many sports will the Indonesian team be competing in
H: We will participate in 52 sports and 66 disciplines for 424 events.
B: What is Indonesia’s medal target and what are the sports that most medals are expected to be from
H: We are targeting for 50 gold medals. We confident that aquatic, athletics, weightlifting and badminton will contribute most of our medals.
B: What is the overall finish target in the Games
H: We aim to finish in higher position than SEA Games 2017 where we finished 5th with 38 gold medals, 63 silver and 90 bronze (lowest since Indonesia joined the Games in 1977. Out of 21 appearances at the Games since 1977, Indonesia finished fifth only three times: in 2005, 2015 and 2017. Apart from those years, Indonesia always finished at least in the top four.)
B: What was Indonesia’s budget for the preparations of the Philippines Games
H: We set a budget of about Rp67 billion (RM14.6 million) to accommodate our goal. The government covered Rp 59 billion and several corporations contributed Rp 8 billion.
B: Which country does Indonesia expect to pose the strongest challenge and what is your prediction for the top three countries at the Games
H: We foresee Thailand as our closest challenger. We expect the Philippines followed by Thailand and Vietnam to compete for the top three sports without neglecting Malaysia and Singapore’s hopes to be among the top three finishers.
B: What does Indonesia expect from the previous Games host and overall champion, Malaysia
H: We are sure that Malaysia will come with their best athletes to put up a strong challenge as the defending champions.
B: In which sports does Indonesia see Malaysia’s strongest challenge coming from
H: Malaysia has a sporting tradition to collect many medals from athletics, sepak takraw, hockey and, squash.
B: Does Indonesia see the various sports being held in five clusters a challenge, and how is Indonesia going to cope
H: Having had the experience from 18th Asian Games as the host, we feel we can manage. We are taking careful measures to manage all necessary needs to support our athletes. Since the athletes will be separated in different clusters, we are providing a headquarters each in Metro Manila, New Clark City, Subic and Southern Luzon.
B: What are the rewards in store for athletes who win gold medals or even silver and bronze
H: We fully appreciate our government, especially for our new Sports and Youth Minister (Zainudin Amali), who is highly supportive of our athletes and has promised cash bonus to medalists.
B: Any last thoughts on the Games
H: We would like to thank PHISGOC for getting all the sports infrastructures and supporting venues ready despite the challenges and time limitation, to ensure that that the visiting contingents are well received and have a memorable stay. We are hoping that the Philippines SEA Games will be a successful sports party and we also hope to witness some outstanding performance from our youth. Last but not least, the motto “We Win as One” really represent the ASEAN spirit.
— BERNAMA
