This is the third time that Beatrichx, as she is affectionately called, has defended the province's team at the National Games.
Born on October 25, 1993 in Ternate, Beatrichx is a South Kalimantan boxer who won a silver medal for her province at the PON in her career.
The 20th PON in Papua -- which was officially opened by President Joko Widodo on October 2, 2021 -- will be a chance for Beatrichx to prove herself by winning a gold medal.
Beatrichx will compete with eight other boxers in the flyweight-class (51-kilogram) boxing match in Jayapura city's Cendrawasih sports arena.
Given her performance in the qualification match for the Papua PON, where Beatrichx won a gold medal, she stands a good chance of winning in Jayapura.
However, she said she is not expecting an easy win at the Papua PON Games since she will be facing some strong competitors from other provinces.
But Beatrichx said she is extremely determined to win at the PON, which is the fourth she has participated in so far.
She, indeed, has had a quite long career as a boxer, fighting from ring to ring.
In 2009, at the age of 16, Beatrichx was selected to participate in the 17th PON in East Kalimantan province. In her first PON, she defended the sports contingent of North Sulawesi.
Beatrichx's courage in the boxing ring was later recognized by the local government of South Kalimantan, and in the 18th PON held in 2012 in Riau province, she advanced to defend South Kalimantan and won a silver medal.
At the 19th PON, held in 2016 in West Java province, Beatrichx managed to enter the top eight but did not win a gold medal because of a leg injury during a match.
However, Beatrichx said that past defeats or failures will not stop her from achieving more and taking more medals at the current PON.
With this goal, she said she underwent careful preparation and trained hard despite losing her mother ahead of the Papua PON Games.
"My beloved mother passed away recently, this was quite a blow to my feelings," she remarked.
Nevertheless, the boxer said that she did not want to dwell on sadness and grief for a long time adding that she chose to continue practicing to give her best performance at the Games so that she can make her family proud, especially her late father and mother.
"Praise God, now I can already accept reality and rise. I want to make my late father and mother proud with my achievements; moreover, I still have to support my younger siblings," she remarked.
Beatrichx said that she has been praying for success at this year's PON.
She said she is also optimistic that long hours of practice in the ring and her competition experiences, including at the international level, will help her excel at the Papua PON.
National team athlete
Beatrichx is one of the boxers on the national team and competed at the 2018 Asian Games held in Jakarta and Palembang.
Her experience as a national team athlete also led her to compete in the World Boxing Championships in South Korea. In addition, she also "tasted the hardness" of boxing at the Taiwan Open Tournament.
Beatrichx, who will turn 28 this year, has represented Indonesia twice at the SEA Games: in Myanmar and in Singapore.
She won the silver medal at the 2013 SEA Games in Myanmar.
Beatrichx, who was born to Allen Suguro and Dominggas Tjiono, has been in the sport since junior high school.
The eldest of four children, she said that she liked boxing since childhood when she lived in Laba Besar village, Ternate city, North Maluku province.
It was after Beatrichx and her family moved to Manado, North Sulawesi, that she got better acquainted with the world of boxing in elementary and junior high school.
"I joined boxing training when I was already living in Manado. At that time, our family moved to Manado from Ternate, so I grew up in Manado," she said.
Beatrichx then moved to Jakarta to continue her education at the high school level. She also joined the Jakarta province boxing team for coaching.
Although she was recognized and invited by a number of local governments to join their provincial sports contingent, Beatrichx said she chose to pursue her boxing career in South Kalimantan.
She said that the South Kalimantan local government helped her substantially in developing her career, and therefore, she decided to compete at the PON to defend the province.
"I already feel comfortable here (South Kalimantan), as long as I am needed, I will continue to compete for this province," she remarked.
Beatrichx is one of the seven South Kalimantan boxers who have qualified for participating at Papua PON. South Kalimantan is one of the provinces sending the most boxing athletes to the Papua Games.
Boxing is one of the leading sports in South Kalimantan, so the province is targeting 14 gold medals at the Papua PON.
The National Sports Week (PON) 2021 will be held in Jayapura city and the districts of Jayapura, Mimika, and Merauke from October 2-15, 2021. At least 6,400 athletes and 3,500 officials from 34 provinces across Indonesia are participating in the event.
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Translator: Yuni Arisandy, Sukarli
Editor: Sri Haryati
Copyright © ANTARA 2021
