Commission X Asks the Government to Postpone the Implementation of PON 2020 Regarding Corona Covid-19 Outbreak

Commission X Asks the Government to Postpone the Implementation of PON 2020 Regarding Corona Covid-19 Outbreak

Indonesian House of Representatives Commission X Chair Syaiful Huda asked the government to postpone the implementation of the 2020 National Sports Week (PON) in Papua. With the increasingly massive spread of the Corona virus outbreak (Covid-19), the biggest national sporting event scheduled for September 2020 will no longer be possible.

"We request that the government immediately provide certainty for the postponement of the implementation of the Papua PON. Do not let the national sports stakeholders (ranging from athletes, trainers, and official sports branches hang on to await the certainty of the implementation of the PON," he said Huda in Jakarta, Saturday (03/28/2020).

He explained the development of the spread of Covid-19 in various regions in Indonesia was increasingly alarming. At present 24 provinces have been exposed to the Covid-19 outbreak. In addition, the number of Corona positive patients has also reached 1,046 people.

This condition makes a number of training programs for athletes from various regions disrupted. Even though the training program of a sport is arranged so that at the time of the event, athletes can reach peak performance.

"If the training program is disrupted because of Corona, we can be sure that the athlete's performance during the implementation of the PON will also be disrupted," he said.

In addition to the athlete's preparations being interrupted, the spread of Covid-19 also disrupted preparation for venue preparation. Moreover, at this time the Papua Provincial Government as the PON Large Committee (PB) has closed the airports and ports to prevent Covid-19 transmission that may be brought by travelers from outside the area.

"Whereas the latest information is that there are still some venues that are not ready yet, so it needs to speed up the process. If the airport and the port are closed, it means that there are experts or venue materials that cannot enter Papua so that it disrupts the completion of the venue," he said.

This PKB politician proposed that the implementation of the Papuan PON be postponed for one year. Thus, both athletes and the organizers can get certainty of the time of PON implementation without being disturbed by Covid-19.

"Many regional and international sports events have also been postponed due to Covid-19 such as the 2020 Japanese Olympics and European Cup 2020. On average these events are postponed until 2021. So it doesn't hurt if the Papua 2020 PON is postponed for the next year," he said.