VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia's karate team on Thursday achieved the target of three gold medals set by the Ministry of Youth and Sports for the 2021 SEA Games in Vietnam.

Secretary-general of the Executive Board of the Indonesian Karate-Do Federation (PB Forki), Raja Sapta Ervian, said the federation was grateful for the achievement because, on the second day of the competition, the team achieved the target set by the government.

"We still have the opportunity to add medals because tomorrow, there will be three more mainstay events, namely the male team kata, male team kumite, and female team kumite," he said when interviewed in Ninh Binh, Vietnam, on Thursday.

The three gold medals were bagged by Ahmad Zigi Zaresta Yuda in individual kata, Ari Saputra in the kumite (60 kg event), and Cok Istri Agung S. in the women’s kumite (-55 kg event).

Meanwhile, six silver medals were won for the team by Devina Dea (kumite, -62 kg event), Hutapea Cliff (kumite, -67 kg event), Ceyco Georgia H. ( kumite, -68 kg event), Ignatius Joshua Kandou (kumite, -75 kg event), Dessynta (kumite, +68 kg event), and the women’s kata team comprising Krisda Putri Aprilia, Emilia Sri Hanandyta, and Dian Monika.

Sharon Ririheha (kumite, -50 kg event) and Krisda Putri Aprilia (individual kata) contributed a bronze medal each.

Ervian said that the team's achievement was inseparable from the hard work of the athletes and coaches.

For the 2021 SEA Games, he affirmed that PB Forki prepared athletes well by running a long-term national training center (Pelatnas) from 2019.

Even though the training center was earlier shuttered due to the pandemic, it was made operational from the beginning of 2021.

In addition to preparing the athletes through a strict training program, PB Forki also arranged competitions with athletes from Kazakhstan and Australia specifically for the SEA Games.

Manager of Indonesia's karate team, Yusran Arief, added that the achievement was due to the good national athlete recruitment system.

The athletes were selected from among the winners of the National Sports Week (PON) and cleared the National Selection. (Antaranews)