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Indonesian Ongen takes leap of faith for boxing career
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Indonesian boxers Daud Yordan (left) and Ongen Saknosiwi speak to journalists during a press conference in Jakarta on Oct. 22 to talk about their preparations for their respective matches in the Mahkota Boxing Sunday Vaganza on Nov. 17 in Batu, Malang, East Java. (JP/Anggie Angela)
W
ith only Rp 5,000 (35 US cents) in his pocket in 2011, Ongen Saknosiwi dared himself to take a leap of faith, leaving his home island of Maluku for Tangerang in Banten for the first time to pursue a boxing career.
He was 17 years old at that time and chose not to tell his parents about his departure.
The Tangerang trip was not Ongen’s first travel experience. His first was when he left his family, which resides on Buru Island – a 30-minute flight from Maluku’s capital Ambon – to enroll in SMAN 4 state high school in Ambon in 2008.
As soon as Ongen finished school, he received an opportunity from a boxing talent scout, the late Wiem Sapulette, to go to Tangerang, Banten for a career. He accepted the opportunity, but he did not immediately tell his parents about the plan as he was concerned they would be too worried to allow him to go.
However, Ongen said the only thing in his mind was that he had to do something to improve the quality of his family’s life and that something was boxing.
Off he went with the former national boxer Wiem, who owned a boxing camp in Banten.
“I went to Jakarta with Pak Wiem. I told my parents that as a man I had to be brave to leave my home town,” said Ongen, now an Indonesian Air Force officer, adding that he revealed his trip and plans to his parents once he reached Banten.
