The Indonesian contingent returns to made the nation proud on the international stage through the 2024 ASEAN University Games for men’s team taekwondo poomsae (art) and kyorugi (fight) senior class M-80 at the Samantha Krida Building, Universitas Brawijaya, Thursday (4/7/2024). This achievement becomes a pride for the Indonesian athletes and official team.
Osanando Naufal Khairudin, a student at Slamet Riyadi University in Surakarta, succeeded in donating a gold medal in the M-80 kyorugi senior class. He defeated the Cambodian athlete, Va Mithona, after a fierce match.
“I am very happy and proud because this is the first time I raised the red and white flag on the first podium. Hopefully it can continue at the next event,” said Osa, his nickname.
Osa said that he had prepared thoroughly for this event. He underwent intensive training for two months in Bogor with a team of trainers from Korea.
“I think the biggest challenge is fighting ourself. We have to fight fear, be confident and believe we are stronger than our opponents,” said Osa.
He also has big dreams to continue to excel on the international stage, such as PON which will be held in Medan, Sea Games, Olympics and Asian Games.
On the other hand, the Indonesian men’s poomsae team consisting of Muhammad Rizal (Bina Nusantara University Bogor), Muhammad Hafiz (Diponegoro University), and Muhammad Syarif Hidayatullah (STAI Nurul Iman), also managed to win a gold medal.
“I feel proud because this is the first time for Indonesian poomsae to win first place, after sleeping for so long we can finally get up again and get gold,” said Rizal.
Rizal and his team admitted that they were inspired by AUG’s lively and supportive atmosphere. They hope that this achievement can motivate the younger generation of Indonesian taekwondo to continue to practice and acieved.
“Hopefully in the future Indonesian taekwondo, especially poomsae, can be active again in bigger tournaments,” hoped Rizal.
The country’s Liaison Officer (LO) Coordinator, Andra Justiawan, explained that the taekwondo sport in AUG 2024 was participated by many countries and almost all classes competed.
“Taekwondo is in demand because the competition category includes individuals, so it’s busy and it’s possible that all countries can take part, but Indonesia is still dominating. The Kyorugi branch is almost full, starting from M-54, M-58, M-63, M-68, M-74, M-80, M-87, and over 87. For the female there are several classes, F-73 is empty but the rest are all there,” explained Andra.
Andra also revealed that the implementation of AUG 2024, which coincided with the lecture holidays, was one of the factors that made the audience’s euphoria less visible.
“Actually, this also has its pluses and minuses, the plus is that we can focus more on running the match and not worry too much about the audience. If it’s a minus, maybe it won’t look like much fun,” said Andra.
Despite various challenges, the implementation of Taekwondo AUG 2024 ran smoothly and successfully produced new champions. This achievement is proof that Indonesian taekwondo continues to develop and is ready to compete at more prestigious international level. [dea/sitirahma/ UB PR/ Trans. Iir]
