SEA Games Not the Real Test

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

Indonesian men's archery team athletes Alfianto Bagas Prasetyadi, Riau Ega Agatha Salsabilla, and Arif Dwi Pangestu (from left to right) when winning the final match of the recurved team in archery at the SEA Games Vietnam 2021 at the National Training Sport Center, Hanoi, Vietnam, Wednesday ( 18/5/2022).

HANOI, KOMPAS — The Indonesian archery team exceeded its target at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games 2021 in Vietnam by securing four gold medals in the recurve competition at the National Sports Training Center, Hanoi, on Wednesday (18/5/2022). The men’s archer Arif Dwi Pangestu,18, and women’s archer Rezza Octavia, 21, performed brilliantly by winning two gold medals each. However, they realized that the real test was not in the SEA Games arena.

In addition to being the best in the men's individual number, Arif also won gold in the men's team with Riau Ega Agatha Salsabilla and Alviyanto Bagas Prastyadi. Meanwhile, Rezza won gold for the women's individual and mixed pairs with Ega.

The recurve archery team's gold collection surpassed their results at the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines, which brought home two gold, two silver and four bronze medals.

My personal target is to win two golds.

At the SEA Games this time, Indonesia deployed 10 archers, namely four men and two women in the recurve bow discipline and three men and one woman in the compound bow discipline. Especially for the recurve bow, Indonesia participated in four tournaments, namely individual men’s and women’s, men's teams and mixed teams.

In the men's individual contest, Arif defeated Ega 6-2 in the final. In the women's division, Rezza won gold after defeating the athlete from Thailand, Narisara Khunhiran-chaiyo, 6-0. Narisara ranks seventh at the 2022 Archery Asian Cup in Phuket, Thailand.

“My personal target is to win two golds. I'm very happy to be able to participate in the SEA Games and win gold," said Rezza.

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The SEA Games in Vietnam is Rezza's first multisport event. The archer from Bojonegoro, East Java, almost competed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics but failed in the quarterfinals of the Olympic qualification held in Paris.

After failing to qualify for the Olympics, Rezza tried his hand at the Archery World Cup series 1 in Antalya, Turkey, but his steps again stalled in the quarterfinals. The SEA Games was also Rezza's next target to be able to stand on the podium, which he realized by winning two gold medals.

Rezza conceded that he was still nervous about competing in an arena like the SEA Games despite having experience competing in two international tournaments. Because of that, Rezza said he was able to play more calmly when paired up with Ega in the mixed numbers.

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

Athlete of the Indonesian men's archery team Riau Ega Agatha Salsabilla when aiming at the target in the final match of the recurved team in archery at the SEA Games Vietnam 2021 at the National Training Sport Center, Hanoi, Vietnam, Wednesday (18/5/2022).

Even though he is younger than Rezza, Arif appears more relaxed and calm because he has performed at the Tokyo Olympics. For Arif, the pressure and atmosphere at the Olympics were much greater.

Calmness is the key to Arif's successful appearance in the final. He helped lead Indonesia to win gold by defeating host Vietnam, a total of 6-2.

Curious

Despite being able to win gold at the SEA Games, Rezza still thinks about his failure at the Olympics and Archery World Cup qualifiers. Rezza felt that competing in the SEA Games was a little easier because there were not as many participants as in the two international championships he had participated in before. After this, Rezza's curiosity will become his motivation when he takes part in the Archery World Cup series 3 in Paris in June. There, Rezza will face the real test against the world's major archery powers, such as South Korea, the United States and Turkey.

The manager of the Indonesian archery team, Ari Wiranto, said the SEA Games were an arena for young archers to compete at the big, multipronged regional level. By deploying young archers at the SEA Games, they will have a foothold to compete in higher events, such as the Asian Games and Olympics.

"Indeed, it's only six or seven countries [participating], but the feeling is the same as if you were in the Olympics. So, this is a good experience. It would be regretful if the athletes were not sent here," said Ari.

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To maintain the performance of Rezza and Arif, Ari and also the executive board of the Indonesian Archery Association (PB Perpani) promised to increase their participation in international championships, from twice a year to three or four times.

With the addition of four golds from archery, Indonesia has collected 36 gold, 50 silver and 47 bronze medals. The good results of the archery team made amends for the failure in a number of sports that Indonesia was hopeful for (winning medals), such as badminton and the men's 100-meter run.

This article was translated by Kurniawan Siswo.