By: Jeremiah Kogoya) *
Even though Indonesia hit by the pandemic C ovid-19 Menpora Zainudin Amali ensure that Pekan Olah raga Nasional (PON) XX of 2020 in Papua so far remained on schedule originally . Nevertheless, the preparation will remain meny e s uaikan with the development of the situation .
In the midst of the epidemic of the corona virus, the central and regional governments are still preparing for the national-level sports party to run on schedule.
Zainudin Amali menu Turkan, government b e lum planning to issue a delay or cancellation option because they expect a pandemic Covid-19 could soon be over.
Of course, various options must be prepared from various regions and branches of sport in advance . He said he hoped that covid-19 disease or corona virus would soon end so that plans to hold PON on time could continue.
As preparations continue, he also prepares precautions to suppress corona discharge . Of course by limiting things that involve a lot of people, which inevitably will affect workers who prepare athletes venues or venues .
Amali said that the government would of course have to calculate and evaluate it as the corona virus spreads.
For PON, it will evaluate its progress next month. The government must speak with the KONI Center and KONI Regional and the leaders of the sports branch to make a decision.
According to the schedule, the PON 2020 grater settlement will still take place in a few months, from October 20 to November 2 in four clusters, namely Jayapura Regency, Jayapura City, Mimika Regency and Merauke Regency.
While preparations are still underway, the Government of Papua province has officially closed access to flights and shipping lines to Papua until April 2020 to prevent the spread of the corona virus in Papua.
In addition, as a result of the spread of covid-19 to various countries in the Asian region, Rugby Athletes from Papua were canceled to undergo training camp or training camps in Malaysia.
Besides failing to TC to Malaysia, Papua Rugby also could not participate in the Jakarta Open Championship 2020. It dikar e nakan event to be held in July mendatan g tert ebut has been canceled by the Governor of Jakarta.
With the outbreak of the extremely dangerous corona virus, it is certain that all sports in Papua will certainly be canceled out of TC.
Papua Rugby Coach, George Deda said, the increasingly deadly corona virus outbreak, making all sports in Papua have definitely canceled TC out.
George said, the Papuan PON Rugby sport was eager to carry out TC as a venue to measure the ability of coaching while in Jayapura .
He is also optimistic that rugby is able to give a glorious achievement with many athletes who have had experience in various events such as national and even international championships.
In addition, the match equipment that will be used at the Papua PON XX event later, is not entirely new, but is a used item from the Asian Games.
The use of these tools is due to the Government’s difficulty in bringing in new equipment as the spread of the corona virus is rife.
With the PON XX event , the venues were built majestically, the construction of the venue is expected not only for the PON event, but can also be used by Papuans as a sports arena for the community, so that talented athletes from the earth of heaven will be born.
The holding of PON in Papua is not only a place to fight for medals. The most important thing is to become an arena to strengthen the fabric of brotherhood , the fabric of unity and solidarity between regions.
President Joko Widodo had warned, that PON in Papua was not just a sports competition. But PON is a joint arena to celebrate diversity, strengthen the spirit of brotherhood and the arena to strengthen unity and unity. So that in the middle of this pandemic, of course all parties will continue to prepare themselves as well as possible.
PON is very important for Papua Province because it will be an added value for equitable development in Papua, as well as improving the economy of the community, because the success of PON is not only limited to successful implementation and successful achievement.
So, whether PON XX will be postponed or not, of course we must pray for the co-19 pandemic to end soon, so that preparations for development in Papua will be maximized.
) * The writer is a Papuan student living in Yogyakarta
