Jakarta - Today Australia shared some of the secrets of its sporting success with Indonesia, which could help Indonesia become one of the world`s top sports nations, the Australian Embassy said here on Wednesday.
In the latest series of sports seminars run by the Australian Embassy, visiting experts from Australia Dr Fadi Ma`ayah, and Hallam Pereira, spoke about applying sport science in football, and how Indonesia can become a top-ten nation in world sport.
Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Greg Moriarty, is a strong advocate for strengthening sports cooperation between Australia and Indonesia.
"Sport is an excellent way to develop stronger people-to-people links. The support shown by Indonesia?s sports sector for the seminars has been overwhelming and we will continue working closely with KOI to strengthen Indonesia?s sporting performance," said Ambassador Moriarty.
President of the Indonesian Olympic Committee (KOI), Rita Subowo said "KOI has been working closely with the Australian Embassy over the past 18 months on a number of initiatives and I am confident that these will positively impact Indonesia`s preparations for the South East Asian Games in the short term, as well as our long-term sporting future."
At the seminar the Australian Embassy awarded the 2011 Allan Taylor Sports Grant to Rumah Cemara for their League of Change football program.
Rumah Cemara, the Bandung based organisation that works to increase the quality of life for and reduce the stigma towards people living with HIV, will use the AU$10,000 Australia-Indonesia Institute sponsored Allan Taylor Sports Grant to run the League of Change, a football tournament that will see people living with HIV playing alongside people that don?t live with HIV.
"We are proud to have the opportunity to support the League of Change. Football is a sport that is very close to the hearts of many Indonesians and therefore a great means to educate people about complex social issues," Ambassador Moriarty was quoted as saying by the embassy in its website.
Football Federation Australia (FFA) and PSSI entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2010. The MoU provides for both federations to share coaching and sports science expertise, exchanges of teams, referees, coaches and other experts.
The FFA is keen to work with the new administration at PSSI to make these aims a reality, and is currently in discussion with PSSI to achieve this. As part of the relationship, both parties are keen for the national teams as well as the youth teams of Indonesia and Australia to play each other.
Fadi Ma`ayah is a Senior Lecturer and Course Coordinator for Sports Science and Football from the Edith Cowan University in Perth.
Hallam Pereira is International Project Director from the Western Australian Department of Sport and Recreation. Pereira is no stranger to Indonesia, having acted as a consultant for the recently formulated Strategic Plan for Sport for East Java.
Funding for this seminar was provided by Olympic Solidarity, which is the funding program developed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). (Tx.A014/A014)
