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Anisa, Claudia take bronzes as sweet surprise
Anisa Feritriani (Left) and Claudia Megawati (JP/Seto Wardhana)Indonesian duo Anisa Feritriani and Claudia Megawati Suyanto view their achievement in nabbing two bronze medals in the women’s technical routine duet and free routine duet as a sweet surprise after months of training
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Anisa Feritriani (Left) and Claudia Megawati (JP/Seto Wardhana)
Indonesian duo Anisa Feritriani and Claudia Megawati Suyanto view their achievement in nabbing two bronze medals in the women’s technical routine duet and free routine duet as a sweet surprise after months of training.
In Friday’s technical routine duet finals, the duo secured 68.9504 points. The silver medal was secured by the hosts Gan Hua Wei and Lee Hying Huey (74.3659 points), while the gold medal went to Singapore’s Miya Yong Hsing and Debbie Soh Li Fei (75.1791 points).
The Indonesian pair also managed to snatch another bronze in Sunday’s free routine duet finals by securing 71.4667 points, after silver medalists Hsing and Li Fei (76.2333) and gold medalists Wei and Huey (76.3000 points).
Eight hours of training per day, for seven straight months, was the key to forging their skills in the pool.
“All the physical and mental fatigue we endured during the intensive training paid off. This is the sweet result of hard work,” Mega, Claudia’s nickname, told The Jakarta Post recently.
Anisa added that the chemistry and trust between them contributed greatly to the win.
“Training together forced us to rely on one another. The rest is just us enjoying the competition,” she added.
Anisa recalled that their win had surprised her mother, Retno Anjarwati, and sister, Yesi Prita Sari, who accompanied her to Kuala Lumpur. They even watched her competing from the side of the pool.
“[My mum and sister] hardly believed that we could actually win something because they realized that the Games is a tough competition,” said Anisa, who is also known as Nisa.
Anisa, who has been swimming since kindergarten, said the next big thing to prepare for was next year’s Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang.
The experience she had in Kuala Lumpur will help her improve for the future, she added.
Anisa will continue with her routine to maintain her shape while getting ready for the 2018 Games. Besides swimming, Anisa also runs.
Apart from the achievements in Kuala Lumpur, Mega, 24, is at a big intersection in her career.
Mega, who is enrolled in a Master’s degree in sports science at the Yogyakarta State University, plans to alter her current career path to become a lecturer.
“I am still confused about whether to continue [the path of athletics] or take up another venture in life,” she said.
Anisa learned about the sport from her sister Inneke Yulianti Suyanto.
Later on, the activity became a serious business for her when she decided to focus on synchronized swimming.
Fitrah Utami, the team manager for synchronized swimming, acknowledged that the two were among the senior swimmers in the squad.
“The only problem we face right now is how to narrow the gap between the senior swimmers and their juniors so that the team will be stronger and more solidified,” she said.
