JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com -
Indonesian vice president Boediono expressed his optimism that the country would come out as the overall champion at the upcoming 26th Southeast Asian Games.
"I am convinced with the good preparations that I have seen so far our athletes would be able to make their best achievements this time. I think as the host country we must, God willing, be able to become the overall champion," he said before athletes here on Monday.
He met with the athletes after checking their readiness and inspecting the venues that would be used for the 26th SEA Games.Vice President Boediono called on the athletes to maintain their health conditions and fitness so that they could perform well at the competitions and show their best performance.
He also called on them to prepare their mental conditions. Boediono said the event is a prestigious competition among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). During his inspection of venues and readiness of martial art athletes Boediono was presented with demonstrations of karate, taekwondo, wu shu and Povinam.
Several athletes from other sport brachens like athletic and weight lifting were also seen at the meeting. When inspecting the venue for archery Boediono took an opportunity to try shooting a target twice but failed.
Other venues being inspected are the basket ball field in Kelapa Gading and Vellodrom in Rawamangun. The 26th SEA Games which is scheduled to be opened on November 11 and end on November 22 will be carried out in Palembang, South Sumatra, and Jakarta.
The event will compete 44 sport branches and offer 542 gold medals for grab. This year’s bi-annual event will be the fourth hosted by Indonesia. Indonesia hosted the 10th event in 1979, the 15th event in 1987 and the 19th one in 1997 and in all of the events it came out as the overall champion.
