Minister of Youth and Sports Dito Ariotedjo wants the sport of fencing to have a program to enter the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
"We provide direction on how to make our fencing grow and have a program that will eventually lead to the Olympics," said Dito Ariotedjo in a written statement received in Jakarta, Monday.
The Minister of Youth and Sports stated this after watching the Senior Team Women's Epee class final match at the Asian Fencing Championships in Bali.
Although no Indonesian athletes have reached the podium at the championship, Dito assessed that the progress of Indonesian fencing athletes was very good.
He said that the ministry he leads together with the Executive Board of the Indonesian Fencing Association (PB Ikasi) has the ambition to develop the sport of fencing to enter the Olympics.
According to him, fencing has a lot of potential at the junior and early age levels, which is evident from the large number of Indonesian fencing athletes who come from extracurricular fencing students.
"So this is a potential that we must take. And together with Ikasi, I have conveyed how we make a joint commitment towards the Olympics," he said.
