Sports an Energy Source for Recovery

KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO

Lifter Sarah KBB (59 kilogram) attempts a clean and jerk on 3 July 2020 at the West Java weightlifting regional training camp for the 2020 National Games (PON) at the Physical Fitness building in the city of Bekasi. Out of the 10 lifters who joined the West Java weightlifting camp, eight lifters will be selected to represent West Java in trying for five gold medals at the upcoming 2020 PON in Papua on 20 Oct.-2 Nov.

Sports must be involved in managing the pandemic as it has potential energy for recovery.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The Covid-19 pandemic has affected various aspects of life, including sports. Various sporting events in Indonesia have been delayed as there has been no championship in the past six months. However, this does not mean that athletes are just giving up.

Sportspeople in Indonesia are refusing to stand idly by. They keep moving to remind people of the importance of sports during the pandemic, at least for personal benefit. National weightlifters such as Eko Yuli Irawan and Windy Cantika Aisyah are setting the example by keeping a routine training schedule at the national weightlifting training camp (pelatnas) in Kwini, Central Jakarta.

Also read: Life Balance at ‘Cipayung Bubble’

They isolate themselves during training to ensure their safety from the coronavirus. “Just like saving, in the end you will have lots of money. If I don’t prepare myself right now, I may regret it where there is a championship in January or February [of 2021]. Achievements are not made overnight. There’s an element of sustainability,” Indonesian weightlifting head coach Dirdja Wihardja told Kompas over the phone late last week.

The delay of the event he has been awaiting the most, namely the Tokyo Olympics, to next year has not broken his spirit.

Similarly, national runner Lalu Muhammad Zohri is encouraged to come to Jakarta and take part in the pelatnas during the pandemic since 12 August. The delay of the event he has been awaiting the most, namely the Tokyo Olympics, to next year has not broken his spirit.

“At home, I mostly train by myself and often become unfocused. There are limited training spaces and I am often tempted by my friends to go fishing, surfing or fly kites. At the pelatnas, I am focused on my training as my daily activities only involve my hotel and the training ground,” said Zohri, the 2018 junior world champion of 100-meter run.

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

The Indonesian national football team warms up before training on 14 Feb. 2020 at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta. The occasion marked was the first training session for the “Garuda” squad under Korean coach Shin Tae Yong to prepare for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in March.

Other than training themselves, several national athletes are also actively involved in social campaigns to get people to do sports activities during the pandemic. Among them are national badminton men’s doubles athlete Marcus Fernaldi Gideon. He showed several simple fitness techniques people can do from home on an Olympic Channel live broadcast on 23 June.

“Stay active, stay healthy and enjoy life,” said Marcus, who alongside Kevin Sanjaya are the world’s best men’s doubles shuttlers, in his Olympic Day message.

Marcus and other world-class athletes, including American gymnast and Olympic gold medalist Kyla Ross and Canadian hockey athlete Natalie Spooner, are campaigning for the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) #stayactive movement during the pandemic. Other than to keep a healthy mind, experts believe that routine sports activities can boost immunity and reduce Covid-19 complication factors.

A research paper by the Tehran University of Medical Sciences’ (TUMS) center of sports medicine studies, published in the Asian Journal of Sports Medicine in March, shows that moderate-intensity exercises, such as jogging for 10 minutes every day, can reduce the chance of getting a respiratory tract infection up to 30 percent. “However, excessive exercise can decrease your immunity,” researcher Farzin Halabchi wrote in the paper.

UN’s collective call

Considering the important role of sports in maintaining people’s health, 118 members of the United Nations (UN) issued a collective statement in July to call for all countries to integrate sports in their pandemic recovery efforts. “In this difficult situation, regardless of other priorities, sports and physical activities are important and beneficial for us. These activities can boost our physical and mental health as well as prevent stress and anxiety,” the collective call says.

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

Indonesian men\'s doubles shuttlers Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (right) and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon train on 4 March 2020 at the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) National Training Center in Cipayung, East Jakarta. The Indonesian duo, affectionately dubbed “The Minions”, were preparing for the 2020 All England Open on 11-15 March in Birmingham, the United Kingdom. Indonesian shuttlers are famed for winning gold in a number of categories, including men’s singles players Rudy Hartono (1968-1974; 1976) and Liem Swie King (1981), men\'s doubles players Christian Hadinata/Ade Chandra (1972), Tjun Tjun/Johan Wahyudi (1974-1981), Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon (2017-2018) and Mohammad Ahsan/Hendra Setiawan (2019), women\'s singles player Susi Susanti (1990,1991,1993, 1994), women\'s doubles players Minarni Sudaryanto/Retno Koestijah (1968), and mixed doubles players Tontowi Ahmad/Lilyana Natsir (2012-2014) and Praveen Jordan/Debby Susanto (2016).

A similar call was made by IOC President Thomas Bach. “Sports contribute in crisis recovery efforts and the creation of better conditions in health, social affairs and the economy,” he said, as quoted from the official IOC website.

Therefore, managements in a number of sports organizations are planning to restart delayed competitions, including Liga 1 Indonesia soccer league and the Indonesian Basketball League (IBL), in October. The country’s two largest sports competitions are expected to restart with extreme caution, including routine Covid-19 tests, quarantine for players and an audience ban.

“We want sports to become a source of encouragement. This can be a good public campaign [on the importance of sports]. Other than for entertainment, it must serve a purpose,” IBL president director Junas Miradiarsyah said.

This can be seen in the increasing popularity of sports activities like cycling and running in recent months.

Youth and Sports Minister Zainudin Amali said that the pandemic had opened people’s mind on the importance of sports. This can be seen in the increasing popularity of sports activities like cycling and running in recent months.

Momentum for awakening

Zainudin said the pandemic should be an opportunity for the national awakening of sports. The pandemic has led to a collective awareness and plenty of spare time for the government to finish its work on sports. He said that, during the pandemic, his ministry could be focused on finishing the National Sports Blue Print as stipulated in the planned revision on Law No. 3/2005 on National Sports System.

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

The Indonesian mixed doubles badminton team gathers after training on 4 March 2020 to listen to the assessments from head coach Richard Mainaky at the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) National Training Center in Cipayung, East Jakarta. The Indonesian badminton team was preparing for the 2020 All England Open on 11-15 March in Birmingham, the United Kingdom, which was held just before global travel restrictions to contain the pandemic caused many sporting events to cancel.

The revision is targeted for completion in April 2021, before national athletes take part in various sports competitions, including the U-20 World Cup, the Tokyo Olympics, the National Sports Week (PON) in Papua and the Vietnam SEA Games. Other than improving athletes’ abilities, the popularization of sports is another important point in the law’s planned revision. Sports must be seen as an important and integral point in the life of the nation and the people, including through sports.

“Recently, sports has no longer been our main priority. However, during the pandemic, everyone realizes that sports is highly important. It is not wrong to use the pandemic as a momentum to restore and rejuvenate national sports,” House of Representatives Commission X deputy chair Dede Yusuf said last week. (DRI/KEL/SAN/JON)