I want the athletes to be able to perform well and have (their own) expectations for the future.
Jakarta (ANTARA) – The setting of new records at the 2022 National Athletics Championship has shown that Indonesia has many superior and potential young sports talents, the Indonesian Athletics Association (PASI) said in a statement issued on Friday.
“Certainly, we are very happy and proud. Our next task is to ensure that they will get good coaching, thus, they can continue to excel. Hopefully, it (the tournament) will be a good start,” Chairman of PASI Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said.
The tournament, which was held for the U-18, U-20, and senior athletes from August 6–11, 2022, at Tri Lomba Juang Stadium, Semarang City, Central Java Province, featured 124 athletic events and was attended by 1,500 athletes from 34 Indonesian provinces.
Among the athletes who set a new record at the championship was Valentine Vanesa Lonteng from South Minahasa District, North Sulawesi Province. She broke the U-18 national championship record in the women’s 100 meters event with a time of 11.61 seconds.
It was lower than the time of 11.97 seconds recorded by Nurul Imaniar in 2010.
In addition, Lonteng broke the U-18 national record in the women’s 200-meter event. Recording a time of 24.37 seconds, she bested her own record of 24.84 seconds at the 2019 National Athletics Championship in Pakansari Stadium, Bogor District, West Java Province.
Another national record was set by a male athlete from Lampung province, Dedy Yusuf, in the U-20 hammer throw event. With a throwing distance of 56.91 meters (m), he smashed the five-year-old record held by Denny Putra from Riau province, who recorded a throwing distance of 56.38 m.
Meanwhile, in the women’s U-20 hammer throw event, Natasya Mahdalita from West Java province made a 49.98-m throw, breaking the previous record held by Tresna Puspita from the same province.
Furthermore, Nabila Fafriliani from East Java province set a new national record by making a 1.73-m jump in the women’s U-20 high jump event, breaking the 1.72-m record set by Nadia Anggraini from Jakarta eight years ago.
In appreciation of the achievements, Pandjaitan personally prepared a number of bonuses for the athletes who broke the national records, which will be awarded in addition to the championship prizes.
“The bonus is only an additional motivation. I want the athletes to be able to perform well and have (their own) expectations for the future. We do not want to only give money or other facilities (to the athletes), but (we want to) also encourage them to get good coaching,” he said.
The East Java contingent emerged as the champion of the 2022 National Athletics Championship after bagging 24 gold, 25 silver, and 17 bronze medals. The second place was snatched by the Central Java contingent with 16 gold, 19 silver, and 18 bronze medals.
Meanwhile, the West Java contingent took 12 gold, eight silver, and nine bronze medals to secure third place.
