Indonesia’s 20th National Sports Week successfully held in Papua Province for first time
Indonesia's National Sports Week (Pekan Olahraga Nasional/ PON) has for the first time in its history been held in the Papua province - Indonesia’s easternmost province, encompassing the western half of New Guinea and several other islands.
Held from 2nd to 15th October 2021, amidst geographical challenges, the national sport event has driven the momentum to spotlight Papua's immense potential and strength, as well as sending a positive, unifying message across the country.
Speaking at the opening of PON, President Joko Widodo expressed how important Papua PON is for all Indonesians noting "PON is a stage of unity, togetherness, brotherhood, equality, justice, and to advance and prosper together.”
The success of PON has also illustrated the advancement of Papua, the readiness of infrastructure, and the preparedness of its community in organising international and national-standard sports competitions.
International-standard infrastructures
Various sports arenas, including an aquatic arena, a cricket venue, an indoor and outdoor hockey field, and a shooting range were built across PON's venues in Papua's capital Jayapura city and three other regencies -- Jayapura, Merauke, and Mimika.
Fluidra as a market leader in the swimming pool and water recreation industry, participated in the aquatic development arena used for the XX Papua National Sports Week (PON) 2021, located in the sports area of Kampung Harapan, East Sentani District. The swimming pool structure is known as ‘Skypool’ - a technology solution patented by Fluidra.
PON's main venue, the Lukas Enembe stadium, where the games' opening ceremony was also hosted, spans 13 hectares and can accommodate over 40,000 spectators, making it one of the best sports stadiums in Asia Pacific.
Health and security concerns
The local committee from Papua has proven to be successful in hosting sports events amidst COVID concerns. Held after a year's delay due to the pandemic, the government has taken measures to put strict health protocols in place, including ramping up vaccinations and limiting the number of people who can enter the sports arenas. This measure has positively contributed to the surge of vaccination rate up in Papua, with some regions recorded as over 50% of people are vaccinated.
Indonesian Minister of Communication and Informatics Johnny G. Plate advised "Maintaining health and safety measures during the event is our top priority. We have required all stakeholders involved in the event, including athletes, committees, officials, and all audiences, to complete their two doses of COVID-19 vaccines before attending the event.”
The event was completed efficiently without any security incidents, highlighting the region's conduciveness as well as the unity and enthusiasm of the local public in supporting the event.
Supporting local small businesses
This year's PON managed to bring together over 258 MSMEs from local communities in Jayapura to participate in the events through culinary and handicraft markets around the sports arenas.
Transactions at the PON's MSMEs markets reportedly reached just under US$6000 (IDR82 million) per day.
During PON, the government also worked to encourage tourism in the area, through the launch of Papua Tourism app to introduce and promote tourism objects in all four clusters of PON. This includes nature tourism, cultural tourism, and historical tourism. The app also acts as a platform for MSMEs to sell their products online.
As the nationwide sports event concluded, Papua province is now even more ready to welcome more visitors, to enjoy the beauty of the home of Cenderawasih, the birds of paradise.
Images: Indonesian President Joko Widodo at the opening ceremony of the 20th PON (top), the Fluidra built Sentani aquatic (middle) and PON's main venue, the Lukas Enembe stadium (below).
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