Jakarta (ANTARA) - Head of the development and achievement division of the Indonesian Taekwondo Executive Board (PBTI), Fahmy Fachrezzy, said that the Indonesian taekwondo team is targeting to bag two gold medals at the 2023 SEA Games.

The SEA Games are scheduled to take place in Cambodia from May 5–17, 2023.

This year, PBTI is aiming to surpass the achievement of the 2021 SEA Games in Vietnam in which Indonesia bagged one gold, two silver, and nine bronze medals.

"We are preparing athletes to maximally bag more gold at the Cambodia SEA Games," he said in a written statement received here on Tuesday.

One of the athletes that have been prepared to clinch gold at the event is Kadek Heni Prikasih. The 21-year-old athlete will compete in the women's under-46kg Kyorugi event.

"We are expecting Prikasih to bag gold because she is at the peak of her performance and just recently bagged gold at a world championship in Bulgaria (March 3–5),” he added.

In the final match in Bulgaria, she beat an athlete from Israel by 2-0.

At her SEA Games debut at the 2021 Vietnam SEA Games, she bagged a bronze medal.

"Thus, it (this year's edition) will be the second SEA Games for Prikasih," Fachrezzy said.

Prikasih said that the Cambodia SEA Games would be the first step toward competing at a higher level, such as the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, and the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France.

"I continue to prepare myself maximally and hopefully, would be able to participate up to Paris Olympics. At the SEA Games in Vietnam, I won bronze because I wasn't focused enough,” she added.

“Thus, for the SEA Games this time I will be even more focused," the Balinese athlete remarked.

Another athlete who is aiming for gold is Muhammad Bassam Raihan, namely in the men's under-63kg Kyorugi event. He was the only athlete from the Indonesian taekwondo team to strike gold at the Vietnam SEA Games.

Other athletes that have been prepared for the SEA Games are Osanando Naufal Khairudin, who will compete in the men's under-80kg Kyorugi event, and Silvana Lamanda, who will compete in the women's under-67kg Kyorugi.

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Translator: Muhammad Ramdan, Raka Adji
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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