Minister Says Paralympic Athletes Will Get the Same Appreciation as the Olympics
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29 August 2021 23:00 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Zainudin Amali promised that the government would not differentiate the facilitation and appreciation between athletes competing in the Olympics and Paralympics.
The statement was delivered at the welcoming event of the return of Indonesian para-athletes Ni Nengah Widiasih and Muhammad Fadli Imammuddin accompanied by para-cycling coach Fadilah Umar and para-powerlifting coach Yanti at Soekarno-Hatta Airport.
“The government does not discriminate between athletes participating in the Olympics and Paralympics. We give the same attention and facilitation since they compete on behalf of our nation," he said at a press conference here on Saturday night.
The government had facilitated the Paralympics athletes since they joined in the national training in Solo as part of the preparations for the 2020 ASEAN Para Games which was canceled.
Hence, similar to the Olympic medalists, the Tokyo Paralympic gold medalists will earn a bonus of Rp5.5 billion, silver medalists will get Rp2.5 billion, while bronze medalists will receive Rp1.5 billion.
In addition, the government will also give a bonus to every Indonesian athlete competing in Tokyo this year amounted Rp100 million each.
Meanwhile, Ni Nengah Widiasih thanked the government for the attention and assistance that had been given to the Paralympics athletes.
“Thank you to the Indonesian government and people. Hopefully, other athletes who are still competing in Tokyo can fly our flag as often as possible and our anthem can be played there," said the lifter.
The Indonesian contingent has won three medals comprising one silver and two bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics so far.
The silver medal was pocketed by Ni Nengah Widiasih in the women's 41kg class para-powerlifting, while the two bronze medals was bagged by Saptoyogo Purnomo in the men's T37 100 meter running event and David Jacobs in the men's 10th class individual table tennis respectively.
The country's contingent still has a chance to gain additional medals, especially in the para-badminton sports which is targeted to win one gold and one silver medals.
Read: Sports Ministry Sends Off Indonesian Contingent for Tokyo 2020 Paralympics
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