Malang, (malangkota.go.id) – Malang Mayor, Drs. H. Sutiaji received an award as a regional head who cares about sports at the 2022 East Java KONI Award event, Friday (4/11/2022). The Malang City Government has shown its commitment to improving sports achievements by providing a special budget for sports development, one of which was during the 2022 East Java Provincial Sports Week (Porprov).
The Malang City Government has provided a regional budget of Rp18,5 billion. This budget has increased compared to the 2019 Porprov of Rp12,5 billion. The athletes also achieved proud achievements by ranking second in medals, namely 70 gold, 67 silver, and 72 bronze in the 2022 Porprov.
Head of the Youth, Sports and Tourism Agency (Disporapar), Baihaqi, who was present representing the Mayor of Malang, said that the Malang City Government indeed has a high level of concern for athlete development.
"One of his commitments as a regional head is to provide sufficient budget given to KONI for sports development in Malang City. Of course, this award is also a source of pride for Malang City, which has consistently cared about sports development," he said.
Baihaqi also said that in the future the Mayor of Malang will also continue to be committed to providing development funds through the APBD to be able to continue to improve its achievements.
"The hope is that Malang City will continue to achieve in regional, provincial, and national events. We know that our athletes have achieved a lot at the East Java regional and national levels. In the future, we hope that our athletes can also go global, making Malang City proud, making Arema proud, making Indonesia proud," he said.
The event, which was held at the Mercure Grand Mirama Hotel, Surabaya, also gave various awards to high-achieving athletes and coaches, potential young athletes, as well as former athletes who have brought honor to the name of East Java, and regional heads who care about sports.
KONI East Java Award 2022 was held to welcome Heroes' Day as an appreciation for East Java's sports heroes. "This is a monumental activity as a historical record for East Java sports people. What is done can provide an example to all our athletes. This is an activity to record documentation of sports achievements," said the Chairman of KONI East Java, M. Nabil.
Meanwhile, the Governor of East Java, Khofifah Indar Parawansa, represented by Assistant I of the East Java Provincial Secretariat, Benny Sampirwanto, said that East Java is a barn of high-achieving athletes. So, with the presence of the Jatim Award, it will certainly increase the enthusiasm and motivation of athletes and regions to be able to improve their achievements.
"This award is an appreciation for the work and effort in making East Java proud. Keep up the spirit of achieving achievements because gold medals are not made of gold but of sweat, determination, and belief," he concluded. (ari/ram)
