Wewey Wita (JP/Suherdjoko)

Indonesia is relying on to Wewey Wita, one of the country’s top pencak silat fighters, to grab a gold medal at the upcoming Asian Games multisport event, which will be held in Jakarta and Palembang of South Sumatra.

To fulfill this expectation, Wewey — who was a gold medalist at the 2017 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games — has been going the extra mile at the training camp. Currently, she’s training to compete in the women’s 50-55 kilograms category for the August event.

“At the moment I’m training in Surakarta. The Indonesian pencak silat team [for the Games] consists of 22 athletes and eight coaches,” Wewey told The Jakarta Post in Kartasura, Sukoharjo of Central Java on Sunday.

“I used to compete in the 55-60 kg category. But since my participation at the SEA Games last year, I was told to stay in the 50-55 kg category,” she said.

Indonesia bagged two gold medals at the Games last year, and Wewey won one of them after thrashing Vietnam’s Tran Ti Thiem 4-1.

The achievement at the Malaysian event was quite a surprise because it was the first time she had competed in that category. Coaches decided to deploy Wewey to the 50-55 kg event because the 55-60 kg category was not on the program at the 2017 Games.

“[Since then], I’ve been told to maintain my weight to be able to stay in the 50-55kg class.

“I do extra work in the training program, but in terms of diet I have to be really careful about the food I eat,” revealed the 24-year-old.

Wewey said the team was in a good shape, both physically and mentally, for the quadrennial Games.

“Now, we’re now focusing on the psychological aspect of the sport. If a fighter has strong morale during battle, he or she will be able to display the best technical skill that he or she has,” she added.

Wewey was introduced to pencak silat when she was still at elementary school, but she never planned to be a national athlete. She said her childhood dream was to become a medical doctor.

Now, Wewey is pursuing a degree in physical education at Jakarta State University (UNJ).

“I was supposed to graduate this year, but I can’t because I have to retake some classes. I missed those classes because the schedule didn’t fit in with my competition agenda,” she said.

Having a real challenge in scheduling, Wewey hoped that the university would help her by easing up on school tasks.

“I think the lecturers can still deliver the subjects even without having us [students who are national athletes] in the class.

“With such gestures, we will still be able to do assignments to earn the grades,” said Wewey, who is a member of the Perisai Diri club.

As an achieving athlete, she hoped her talents would motivate young people to make the best of their life.

“Especially for young people who love pencak silat, never give up and never feel bored.

“Do your best, win some more. You can start from local and national levels, before eventually reaching the international stage,” she said.

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