VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesian representatives Hafiz Faizal / Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja won second place in the mixed doubles at the Thailand Masters 2020 tournament held at the Huamark Indoor Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand. In the final round match which took place on Sunday (1/26), Hafiz / Gloria had to recognize the toughness of English couple Marcus Ellis / Lauren Smith in three games lasting 64 minutes with the acquisition of 16-21, 21-13, 16-21.

In the first game, their opponents continued to collect points, while Hafiz / Gloria lagged behind. Unable to catch up, finally Hafiz / Gloria lost with a score of 16-21. In the second game, Hafiz / Gloria were able to score and surpass the English couple with a score of 21-13.

In the last game, the competition between the two couples ran tight. Both of them were playing aggressively to get points. Unfortunately, Hafiz / Gloria finally had to admit the toughness of the British couple, Ellis / Smith with a closing score of 16-21. Hafiz / Gloria and Ellis / Smith had previously met at the 2019 Japan Open tournament. At that time, Hafiz / Gloria won in three games with a score of 21-23, 21-13, 21-13 over the English couple. Based on the BWF ranking, Hafiz / Gloria is superior to Ellis / Smith.

Related to Formula 1 Powerboat World Championship plan, President of the Formula 1 Powerboat World Championship (F1H2O Racing), Nicolo Di San Germano reviewed the location of the world's highest class motorboat racing competition in the Bangka Belitung Islands Province which is to be held in July 2020.

Governor of the Bangka Belitung Islands, Erzaldi Rosman Djohan in Pangkalpinang on Monday said the President and the F1H2O Racing Team had conducted a survey of the location of this world-class boat racing at the Terentang Beach in Central Bangka Regency, Jembatan Emas, Jembatan Baturusa 2, Pangkal Balam Port, and the dock of PT DAK.

According to the Governor of the Bangka Belitung Islands, based on the results of the location survey, the F1H2O Racing Team was interested in holding the event in the Baturusa River area with various considerations and other technical aspects. He appreciates and fully supports the boat racing championship which will be participated by 300 participants from all over the world, because it can promote tourism and increase foreign tourist arrivals to Bangka Belitung.

According to the agenda, this event is planned to be held in July or August 2020, which will be attended by teams from all over the world who will show their abilities in F1 and F4 H2O racing classes.

Regarding the Coronavirus outbreak, Indonesian sprinter Lalu Muhammad Zohri feels that he will not try a trial match abroad before competing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Short-distance running head coach Eni Nuraeni revealed the All Indonesia Athletics Association - PASI has yet to find a replacement tournament for Zohri. Initially, Zohri planned to take part in at least two indoor athletics championships which took place in February and March before appearing at the Olympics. PASI Executive Board also, according to Eni, is confused about finding another championship for Zohri. In fact, the trial match was considered very important as a place to train mentally before going down at the Olympics later.

The indoor athletics world championship, which was originally held in Nanjing, China, was postponed in March until 2021 amid the threat of a coronavirus that is raging in the country. As quoted by Reuters on Thursday morning, after obtaining a WHO recommendation, the main world athletics organization named World Athletics, formerly called the IAAF, has been monitoring the situation ahead of the event that should be held March 13-15 and decided to move it to next year. In addition, the Asian Athletics Association has also canceled the regional indoor championship which was supposed to be held on February 12-13 in Hangzhou, 600 km from Wuhan. According to the agenda, Lalu Muhammad Zohri will participate in the two events held in China.

President of Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique(FIG) Morinari Watanabe said he would support the development of gymnastics in Indonesia in order to excel at the international level, especially at the Olympics.

Indonesia is one of the strongest countries in the field of sports. If Indonesia can make good gymnastic facilities, it will provide equipment support. This was said by Watanabe during his visit to the Office of the Indonesian Olympic Committee in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Watanabe stressed that gymnastics is one of the fundamental sports providing the most gold medals at the Olympics. He said if the exercise is fundamentally strong then other sports can be developed faster. As many as 90 percent of the Olympic sports, according to Watanabe has the basics of gymnastics in it.

To achieve this, Watanabe said that the Japanese Government was willing to provide opportunities for five Indonesian gymnastics athletes to participate in training camps in Japan for 10 days. Chairman of the Indonesian Olympic Committee Raja Sapta Oktohari also expressed his gratitude for the willingness of the President of the FIG who took the time to visit Indonesia. He hopes that the arrival of Watanabe can have a better positive impact on the development of Gymnastics in Indonesia.