XIV NATIONAL SPORTS WEEK JAKARTA 1996
| National Sports Week (PON) is the
national sports which is held every four years for all
provinces of Indonesia. It was held for the first time in
Solo, Central Java in 1948. The first PON was organized
by the Indonesian Government in response to the British
Government's request that only Indonesian athletes and
officials, who used Dutch passports, could enter England
to participate in the XIV Olympics in London. Indonesia
refused to use Dutch passports and held its own sports
games called Pekan Olahraga Nasional (PON).
The committee invited foreign diplomats and international
press to cover the opening ceremony in order to show the
world that the Republic of Indonesia had become
independent. PON has continued to develop and grow. On the first occasion only a few regions of Java participated in the games, competing in 9 categories for 42 gold medals. However, in subsequent PON's, other provinces outside Java have taken part. Since 1977, all 27 provinces of Indonesia have participated in the games. The categories have also increased to approximately 35 sports events. The XIV PON held in Jakarta from 9-20 September 1996, with 5,049 athletes competing in 35 sports categories for 502 gold and silver medals and 592 bronze medals. To mark this sports event, the Directorate General of Post and Telecommunications had issued a series of stamps, printed in gutter-pair sheets, depicting three sport categories that have never been featured on the stamps before namely basketball, hockey and softball, with Pos Indonesia also issuing a first day cover. |
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION :
A. STAMP
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B. FIRST DAY COVER
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