National Sports Week an opportunity to bolster brotherhood: President

Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) stated that in addition to creating the best athletes, the 2024 Aceh-North Sumatra National Sports Week (PON) is an opportunity to bolster the nation's brotherhood bond.

The president made the statement at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Aceh-North Sumatra PON at Harapan Bangsa Stadium, Lhong Raya, Banda Aceh, Aceh, on Monday.

"PON is an opportunity for us to strengthen our unity, strengthen our brotherhood bond as a nation," he noted in his remarks.

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The president appealed to all athletes and contingents to uphold sportsmanship and fair play in the national-level multi-sport event held every four years in Indonesia.

"Let us celebrate the National Sports Week with a spirit of togetherness, with a spirit of sportsmanship and joy to carve out achievements that make the nation proud," he remarked.

President Jokowi, on Monday, officially opened the 2024 PON, which involves at least 13 thousand athletes across Indonesia competing in 65 sports and 1,042 events.

Monday's opening ceremony featured a grand-scale dance performance with a total of 873 dancers, raising the theme of "Aceh Teuka."

The dance performance was divided into several segments to tell the story of Aceh's culture, the natural beauty of Aceh, and the fighting spirit of the Acehnese people.

The 2024 PON, held on September 8–20, is the first edition of PON to be held in two provinces, namely Aceh and North Sumatra.

In this year's PON, contingents from four new autonomous regions of Papua, namely Southwest Papua, Papua Pegunungan, Central Papua, and South Papua, as well as the new capital Nusantara, participated for the first time.