Dewi Yuliawati (Antara)Indonesian rowing has been rocked following an incident involving medal-hopeful Dewi Yuliawati, who is among the top athletes being groomed for the upcoming 18th Asian Games
Indonesian rowing has been rocked following an incident involving medal-hopeful Dewi Yuliawati, who is among the top athletes being groomed for the upcoming 18th Asian Games.
Dewi, 20, suffered an electric shock as she attended a training session in the national camp on Cileunca Lake in Pengalengan, West Java, on Sunday.
National rowing coach Muhammad Hadris said the rower was being treated at the Soreang General Hospital in Bandung regency. Hadris said Dewi was making good progress two days after the accident.
“She is getting better,” Hadris told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
“She indeed seemed confused for about 12 hours after the accident. But, now she’s already talking. The doctor said we’re only waiting for her burns to heal,” he added.
The accident occurred on Sunday morning when Dewi was assigned to solo training, said Hadris. Such training was on Dewi’s program because of a spine injury she received in 2016.
As Dewi trained for a long-distance exercise, Hadris said, one of her paddles appeared to have become entangled in an electricity cable, which was hanging down by the lake. Dewi’s boat flipped when she tried to pull the paddle out of the cable.
The live cable, which was bare in parts, touched the water causing Dewi to suffer shock and burns to the left side of her face, her left foot and her abdomen.
The team’s staff on the ground immediately rescued Dewi and took her to a local health center for first aid before sending her to Soreang hospital.
The hanging cable was a familiar sight, said Hadris. Athletes were only told to stay alert and keep their distance from the cable when the water on the lake reached a certain level, in order to avoid being electrocuted.
The cable was removed by staff from state-owned electricity company PLN on Tuesday morning.
Apart from the physical wounds, Hadris said he was concerned about Dewi’s psychological condition.
Hadris said he was worried that Dewi would suffer trauma from the accident. “We will prepare a psychologist for Dewi to help her to get through the healing process.”
When asked whether Dewi still had potential as a medal hunter in the Games, Hadris said: “The most important thing for now is for her to get better.”
Dewi, who specializes in the women’s single sculls category, is one of the athletes projected to win a medal in the upcoming Asian Games from Aug. 18 to Sept. 2. She made headlines on the local scene when she earned her way to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio di Janeiro, Brazil.
The national team is set to go for a trial at the 2018 Sydney International Rowing Regatta in Australia next month. The trial is part of the national camp’s program, which started last year, ahead of the Games.
On Monday, Youth and Sports Minister Imam Nahrawi expressed her concerns about the accident, advising the rowing team to move the national training camp to Jatiluhur dam in
Purwakarta, West Java.
“I think it is better for the rowing team to train in Jatiluhur; it will be easier for me to supervise the activity,” said Imam as quoted by Antara.
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