Woman athlete Defia Rosmaniar won the first gold medal for Indonesia from the Taekwondo poomsae sports branch.
Rosmaniar admitted that initially, she was surprised that she could defeat her greatest rival, an athlete from South Korea, and she felt a great sense of pride for her victory.
Her victory was witnessed by Indonesia`s President Joko Widodo in the semifinal competition against Yun Jihye from South Korea in the Jakara Convention Center Plenary Hall on Sunday (Aug 19).
The 23-year-old also said that she felt nervous as she prepared to face Yun Jihye in the semifinal, but she was able to channel her nerves into the spirit that brought her the gold medal.
Her strongest motivation, she revealed, was the believe she had planted in herself, that she could defeat her opponent.
"I have established, in my mind, that I have what it takes to defeat them," she said.
Her dazzling achievement, surely isn`t one without hard work. She said that the most challenging moment during her preparation was when she had to train overseas from March up until August, as she had to spend a few months away from her friends and family.
Rosmaniar, who is studying Sports Education in the Jakarta National University, has also been given the credence to be a part of the Indonesian Taekwondo Executive Board and was first introduced to taekwondo back when she was still in middle school.
She had previously won gold medals in the 2016 West Java National Sports Week in the individual and team rounds, as well as the team competition in the Mataram Lombok Students National competition.
In the 2016 Mataram Lombok Students National Competition she also won a silver medal in the individual round.
Second Gold Medal
The second gold medal for Indonesia was won by women athlete Lindswell Kwok through women`s wushu Taijiquan-Taijijian style.
"This gold medal is for all people of Indonesia," said Kwok after the competition in JIExpo Kemayoran, Jakarta, Monday.
She had beaten Hong Kong Wushu athlete Uen Ying Juanita Mok, who is also her biggest competitor in the game.
There were no special preparations for the big match today, she admitted, adding that she simply ensured that she woke up early and do enough warm-ups.
Among the spectators in the match was President Joko Widodo, Minister of Youth and Sports Imam Nahrawi, Chief of the Indonesian Wushu Executive Board Airlangga Hartarto and Chef de Mission of Indonesia Syafruddin.
Kwok`s odds to win the gold medal became especially higher as Chinese wushu athletes are not participating, said Head Coach for Wushu, Novita.
In the women`s Taijiquan-Taijijian number, Kwok achieved 19.50 points, with an even division between Taijiquan and Taijijian with 9.75 points each.
The athlete, who was born in Medan on September 24, 1991, have made history along the timeline of her career. Her latest achievement was maintaining the world champion title by winning the gold medal in the 2017 World Wushu Championship in Russia. Previously, she had also won three gold medals in the 2015 world championship.
Despite her previous global achievements, she admitted to still be nervous before the competition in the Asian Games, but she was able to convince herself that she could win the gold medal, especially when she is competing in her very own homeland.
"I was very nervous, because this is actually my last competition," she said in the JI Expo Kemayoran Hall B in Central Jakarta on Monday.
Back when she was younger, she continued, she used to despise wushu as she saw it as a challenging and difficult sports, due to the arts element in it.
She was first introduced to wushu by her older brother, Iwan Kwok, who is a part of the Indonesian Wushu Executive Board, when she was 9 years old.
Kwok has been dubbed as the South-East Asia Queen of Wushu after winning gold medals in a row in the 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017 SEA Games.
After winning her latest gold medal in the Asian Games, President Joko Widodo has dubbed her as the Asian Queen of Wushu.
Third Gold Medal
Indonesia`s third medal in the 2018 Asian Games was once again brought by a women athlete, Tiara Andini Prastika from the cycling women`s downhill number.
She came out first as the fastest in the downhill woman number in Khe Bun with 2 minutes and 33.056 seconds in Subang, Bandung, West Java on Monday.
Prastika was far ahead with a difference of more than 9 seconds with two other medal winners.
Thai athlete Vipavee Deekaballes won the sivler medal by 9.598 seconds, and fellow Indonesian athlete Nining Purwaningsih, was in third place and was entitled to a bronze medal. She was 9.608 seconds behind her compatriot.
The Semarang, Central Java born`s achievement was previously predicted as she had been ranked in the 13th place.
A few months before the 2018 Asian Games, she had suffered from an injury on her pointer finger, which stopped her from joining the national training for the downhill number in Melbourne, Australia.
The 22-year-old athlete, however, took part in the warm-up of the MTB 2018 Asian Championship in Danao, Cebu, Philippines, in May, in which she was placed third with 3 minutes and 51.700 seconds on her time for 1,740 meters of distance.
These record of achievements have shown Indonesian women athlete`s capability to have Indonesia`s name blooming in the Asian stage.
Edited by Andi Abdussalam
Reporter: Nusarina/Aria Cindyara
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
