Rio and four other Indonesian surfers took part in the 2021 World Surfing Games, which was held by the International Surfing Association (ISA) in El Salvador on May 29 to June 6.
By
I Gusti Agung Bagus Angga Putra
·4 minutes read
AP PHOTO/EUGENE HOSHIKO
A man and a woman look at the Olympic rings installed off the Odaiba Marine Park on Wednesday, March 3, 2021, in Tokyo.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Indonesia will send one more athlete to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, having secured a ticket for wave surfing. So far, 23 Indonesian athletes have been confirmed to compete at the Tokyo Olympics, to be held on July 23 to Aug. 8.
Surfing will be competed for the first time in the Olympic Games because Japan wants to include more modern sports. New sports, including surfing, will encourage young athletes to dream of appearing in the Olympics (Kompas, 5/8/2016).
The secretary of the Youth and Sports Ministry, Gatot S. Dewa Broto, said in Jakarta on Sunday (6/6) that the number of Indonesian athletes who will compete in the Tokyo Olympics could increase, although the increase would not be significant. The number would not be much different from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in Brazil in 2016. At that time, Indonesia sent 28 athletes from seven sports branches.
The secretary-general of the Indonesian Olympic Committee (KOI), Ferry Kono, said Indonesia had secured one more ticket for the Tokyo Olympic after surfer Rio Waida qualified to take part in the Games.
Rio and four other Indonesian surfers took part in the 2021 World Surfing Games, which was held by the International Surfing Association (ISA) in El Salvador on May 29 to June 6. The event was also a qualification event for surfing in the Tokyo Olympics. The five Indonesian athletes who participated in El Salvador were Rio Waida, Ketut Agus, Dhea Novitasari, Tania Izquierdo and Kailani Johnson.
Japan secured two tickets for surfing after Shun Murakami and Hiroto Ohhara advanced to the final round. However, under the Olympic qualification rules, one country can only be represented by two surfers.
YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/POOL PHOTO VIA AP
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike speaks on a screen while Tokyo 2020 Olympics organizing committee President Seiko Hashimoto listens to at a meeting of the IOC Coordination Commission for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in Tokyo on Wednesday, May 19, 2021. IOC President Thomas Bach, Hashimoto, Japanese Olympic Minister Tamayo Marukawa and Koike attended a three-day meeting.
As Japan also already has one representative, namely Kanoa Igarashi, who qualified after entering the top 10 of the 2019 World Surfing Games, the Japanese ticket was allocated to Rio.
At the 2019 World Surfing Games, Murakami got a continental ticket for the Asia zone after placing fourth in the final. Meanwhile, Rio was in ninth position but was the second best surfer from Asia.
Rio\'s success in winning the ticket to Tokyo this time cannot be separated from his achievement in winning second place in the Asian zone at the 2019 World Surfing Games in Miyazaki, Japan.
In the event, four male and female athletes who had the highest points from each continent, namely Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania, were entitled to tickets to the Tokyo Olympics. For the Asian zone, a place in the previous Tokyo Olympics was previously secured by Murakami.
"Rio qualified because of his performance at the 2019 World Surfing Games, but Rio\'s performance in El Salvador was also very good because he entered the quarterfinals. It indicates that Indonesian surfers are also able to compete at the world-class level," said Ferry.
At the Tokyo Olympics, the ISA has assigned 40 slots, 20 men and 20 women respectively, for one event.
Upon returning to Indonesia, the team will prepare themselves and train again.
In a press release issued by the chairman of the Association of the Indonesian Wave Surfing (PSOI), Arya Sena Subyakto was grateful for the results achieved by Rio. The national surfing team learned a valuable lesson from the El Salvador surfing competition. Upon returning to Indonesia, the team will prepare themselves and train again.
"Especially to strengthen Rio\'s mentality to appear in the Olympics because technically, he is ready for the match," said Arya.
Qualification process
Based on KOI data, 23 Indonesian athletes will compete at the Tokyo Olympics. They come from seven sports, namely badminton, athletics, archery, shooting, rowing, weightlifting and surfing.
Ferry said a number of sports are still in the process of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics. Therefore, the number of Indonesian athletes who will compete in Tokyo may increase.
The Indonesian BMX cycling team is trying to win Olympic tickets by participating in the BMX Freestyle World Championship, which is being held in Montpellier, France.
AP PHOTO/HIRO KOMAE
Makoto Hirakawa tries to take pictures of his dogs wearing T-shirts with the Tokyo Olympic logo and the rings at the Odaiba Marine Park where a statue of the Olympic rings is displayed in Tokyo on Friday, Feb. 12, 2021.
“Besides that, there is karate, which starts qualifying in mid-June. Gymnastics awaits rankings from its international federation. Then there are still qualifications for skateboarding," said Ferry. (IGA)
(This article was translated byHendarsyah Tarmizi).
