The Jakarta contingent succeeded in winning the overall championship again after 10 years of waiting at the National Student Sports Week (Popnas) XVI in South Sumatra.

Thank God, we succeeded in achieving our target of becoming overall champions

Jakarta Acting Governor, Heru Budi Hartono appreciated the entire Jakarta contingent for their struggle.

He handed over the award certificate along with appreciation money to the contingent in the Pattern Room, Jakarta City Hall, Tuesday (10/17).

"Thank God, we succeeded in achieving our target of becoming overall champions. Hopefully, it won't be the last of our struggle but a new chapter to develop and become individuals who will continue to grow in facing the next challenges," he expressed.

He also hoped that they could share their experiences with successors who would compete in the same competition in the future.

He wanted their performance to continue to be consistent and be able to maintain their overall champion status at next year's event.

"So, all of you can make this momentum a valuable experience and be an inspiration for juniors. Hopefully, next year, we can defend the overall championship again, by continuing to consistently maintain our performance," he expressed, in the Jakarta Provincial Government's press release.

Jakarta Youth and Sports Agency Head, Andri Yansyah uttered that the 604 Jakarta contingent consisted of coaches, assistant coaches, strength and conditioning coaches, managers, sports doctors, sports therapists, nurses, physiotherapists, nutritionists, psychologists, monitoring and evaluation personnel, officials, in addition to the 350 athletes who participated in the competition at South Sumatra POPNAS.

"Of 350 athletes who competed, we managed to win the overall championship this year. The result was 84 gold, 49 silver, and 47 bronze medals. So, in total, we won 180 medals," he stated.

As for the information, the 350 athletes have fought for the overall championship after participating in various sports, including bicycle racing, basketball, indoor volleyball, badminton, rowing, judo, karate, kempo, shooting, archery, rock climbing, martial arts, swimming, gymnastics artistic and rhythmic, sepak takraw, football, taekwondo, tennis, boxing, and wushu.