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Sea Games: Indonesian athletes surpassing expectations: Harry
Harry Warganegara (Antara/Sigid Kurniawan)Chef de mission Harry Warganegara has praised the achievements of Indonesian athletes at this year’s Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, despite the fact that Indonesia has dropped to fourth place in the medal table, having been leapfrogged by Thailand and Vietnam, who now sit respectively in second and third
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Harry Warganegara (Antara/Sigid Kurniawan)
Chef de mission Harry Warganegara has praised the achievements of Indonesian athletes at this year’s Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, despite the fact that Indonesia has dropped to fourth place in the medal table, having been leapfrogged by Thailand and Vietnam, who now sit respectively in second and third.
Harry said the athletes had surpassed all expectations, showing they have what it takes to secure more glory in the future.
“These athletes have won our hearts with their all-out struggle. They have beaten all predictions by winning more medals than we did at the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games. The fact that 60 percent of the national contingent are junior athletes means so much more for us,” he told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
He mentioned athletes such as weightlifter Windy Cantika Aisah, 17, who secured a gold medal in the women’s 49 kilogram category and Aldila Sutjiadi, 24, who won two gold medals in the women’s singles and mixed doubles categories. Now that these athletes had gained confidence, he added, it was expected that they could focus on something bigger.
After the SEA Games had finished, Harry added, the most crucial task for all sporting stakeholders would be maintaining the winning momentum, especially for these young athletes, whose thirst for glory still needs to be satisfied.
“We need them to be fully charged, physically and mentally, so they can reach the qualifiers for bigger stages like the Olympics or other world championships. Now, they have reached an important milestone, winning SEA Games medals. We all need to think how to maintain their exposure to regional and world arenas so they can maintain their competitiveness as athletes.”
Harry also appreciated the associations, which have been willing to struggle side-by-side with their athletes, often despite limited facilities, so many of them could claim their medals.
He then highlighted the weightlifting association, which still does not have fixed and comprehensive training facilities even though the sport has been one of the country’s gold mines at the ongoing SEA Games, with a total of four golds, one silver and five bronze medals.
“We cannot expect our athletes to be victorious on world stages like the Olympics if we fail to give them training facilities that meet the world standard. This is the perfect time for everybody to start paying attention to these matters.”
That is why, he added, besides cash rewards for the athletes, the government planned to reward the associations whose athletes managed to secure medals. It was a token of appreciation, he added, and it was meant to assist the associations for further athlete training and talent scouting.
In contrast with all the optimism, Harry also acknowledged that Indonesia had lost potential medals in some sports such as e-sports, swimming, wushu and pencak silat. He added Indonesia had indeed secured a total of seven medals in pencak silat, comprised of two golds, three silvers and two bronze medals, but the results were still far from the 14 gold medals it managed to secure at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang.
Wushu was another sport in which the Indonesian athletes fell short of expectations, according to Harry, securing just two golds, five silvers and two bronze medals. “We believed that they could earn more,” he said.
Harry conceded that Indonesia’s medal chances had been hampered by the fact that no wrestlers had been sent to compete at the Games, as well as by the indoor hockey teams being denied participation due to internal conflicts within the associations.
He admitted that he had failed to see this coming. For the wrestlers who had not been sent, he added, it was totally dependent on the association. As for the indoor hockey teams, he added that he had discussed this matter with all related stakeholders and planned to file a report with the Court of Arbitration soon.
“We meet all the requirements to participate in the indoor hockey matches but all of a sudden we were prohibited for unclear reasons. It has resulted in losses for us.”
