Journo-cum-archer committed to sport

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Indrie HP Koentjoro: (JP/Mustaqim Adamrah)

For archer Indrie HP Koentjoro, being an athlete is probably more interesting than being a journalist.

However, the two professions once gave former journalist with Bola sports a dilemma.

Having taken up the bow and arrow when she was 12 years old, she had to choose between carrying on with her pastime as professional athlete and switching to journalism.

“I covered many sporting events by being a journalist,” said the single mother in the athlete’s village in Pekanbaru, recently ahead of her archery match. Indrie claimed to be the only female sports journalist in the country during her era.

“In the meantime, I always intensively practiced archery and tried to rise up the ranking.” she said, adding she was ranked No. 6 nationwide at that time.

Indrie, who was born on Oct. 23, 1959, participated in the Asian Games and the SEA Games in 1990s before ending up with Bola.

“I was asked to train at the national training camp many times but I turned them down because Bola was just established at the time,” said Indrie, who had been working at female magazine Kartini before joining Bola.

Her choice to become a Bola journalist also paid off.

She said she had traveled around the world to cover the French Open tennis tournament, Wimbledon in England, the Formula One races at Silverstone in England and South America’s Copa America soccer championship, thanks to her
journalism choice.

But she kept practicing while working in Bola from 1985 until 2003 by splitting time between her reporting in the morning and her practice in the afternoon at Bung Karno Sports Complex, only 15 minutes walk from her office.

Knowledge-hungry Indrie decided to study psychology in the University of Indonesia in 2006.

“I tried to enroll in psychology at the first time [after graduating high school], but I failed my test. And I took up German literature,” Indrie said, who enrolled in German literature in 1980 and got her bachelor’s degree in 1985.

“But, one day I decided to continue my studies, and psychology was my choice. I told my boss about my idea and decided to resign from Bola to go to University,” she said. She now runs a psychology consultancy.

Indrie fills her days with archery and in her consultancy work, among others, since her husband Koentjoro LV died in 2007 of to a heart attack, leaving Indrie to raise their only daughter, Abigail Galih Indriasih, now 17 years old.

Indrie’s love of sports has brought her back to archery, this time taking many roles, but she has not left her journalism entirely and still writes for the Indonesian Sports Journalist Organization (SIWO).

Having found “thrilling challenges” in Southeast Sulawesi, Indrie decided to help develop archery in the province.

Starting by establishing the Indonesian Archery Association’s (PERPANI) Southeast Sulawesi branch in November last year, Indrie made herself an athlete, coach, financier and chairwoman.

It is the first time Southeast Sulawesi has participated in archery at the National Games, with Indrie and 26-year-old Haris Baari representing the province in the individual compound events.

Indrie was eliminated early on Saturday, losing to East Kalimantan’s Susanti. “It’s OK for me to compete in National Games [PON] 2012 this time. But next time, it’s going to be our game,” she said.

— JP/Mustaqim Adamrah