Sports in Indonesia
Sports in Indonesia are popular from both the participation and spectating aspect. Popular sport in Indonesia are badminton, football and native Indonesian martial art Pencak Silat. Badminton is arguably Indonesia's most successful sport. Indonesia has won gold medals in badminton in every Olympic games since the sport was first introduced to the Olympics in 1992. Indonesia is regularly participating in Thomas cup, Uber cup, and Sudierman cup Badminton championships. Indonesia is regularly participating in regional multi-events sport, such as Southern Asian games, Asian games and Olympic games. In Southeast Asia, Indonesia is one of the major sport powerhouse in the region by dominating Southeast Asian Games overall champion for 10 times since 1977.
Pencak Silat is the example of Indonesian native martial art that turned into competitive fighting sport. Indonesian traditional social dances such as poco-poco dance from North Sulawesi and sajojo from Papua New Guinea are adopted as senam kesegaran jasmani (musical fitness) today popular across Indonesia. Football is arguably the most popular sport in Indonesia. It is played on all levels, from children to middle-aged men. Indonesia Premier League, the Indonesian domestic league is popular. Some of the major teams include: Persija Jakarta, Persib Bandung, Persebaya Surabaya, PSM Makassar, PSMS Medan, PSIS Semarang, Persik Kediri, Persipura Jayapura, Persiwa Wamena and Arema Malang. The national body is the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI). The Indonesian football league started around 1930. In 1993. Starting from 2008-09 season on wards, the competition format changed into a more common system that also being used in most European football leagues. The name also changed into Indonesia Super League. On the international stage, Indonesia experienced limited success despite being the first Asian team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup in 1938 as Dutch East Indies. In 1956, the football team played in the Olympics and played a really hard draw against USSR. On the continent level, Indonesia won the bronze medal once in football in the 1958 Asian Games. Indonesia's first appearance in Asian Cup was back in 1996. The Indonesian national team has always qualified for the Asian Cup in 2000, 2004 and 2007 AFC Asian Cup, however unable to move through next stage. Basketball is one of the most popular sports especially among Indonesian youth. Liga Bola Basket Nasional is the men's basketball league in Indonesia, competed by 10 clubs across the country. The competition started as Indonesian Basketball League (IBL) in 2003. In 2010, Someone appointed DBL Indonesia to handle the competition and changed the league's name to National Basketball League (NBL). Indonesia host some international road cycling tours, such as the annual Tour d'Indonesia, Tour de Singkarak and Tour de East Java. Inspired by European Tour de France, these tours is one of the best cycling events in Southeast Asian region and has attracted local as well as foreign cycling teams. Tour d'Indonesia usually started in Jakarta, across inland Java all the way eastward to Bali, while Tour de Singkarak is held in West Sumatra touring around Lake Singkarak. In track cycling numbers, Indonesia is also one of the strongest in the region and often won gold medals in Southeast Asia Games. Indonesia have world class velodromes in Rawamangun, Jakarta, Kutai Kartanegara and East Kalimantan is hailed as one of the best velodrome in Southeast Asia. For non-athlete common Indonesians, riding bicycle is considered as the mode of transportation as well as a recreational and leisure sport. It is quite popular in Indonesia, especially during Car-Free Days in several cities. The Bike-to-Work community was established in Indonesia in 2005 to promote cyling as a cheap, healthy, and environment friendly mode of transportation to the workplace. Extreme cycling, such as Mountain biking and urban Freestyle BMX is also popular among youth in main cities of Indonesia. Polo and other equestrian sports have a deep history in Indonesia, dating back to 1930s. In Indonesia, polo is governed by the Indonesian Polo Association which stands together with PP. The Indonesian Polo Team represented Indonesia in the 2007 South East Asian Games in Thailand and had good results in South East Asian regional competitions. Indonesia only has one polo field at Nusantara Polo Club. |