Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian contingent managed to surpass the target by bagging 10 gold medals at the 2023 Special Olympics World Summer Games (SOWSG) held on June 17-25 in Berlin, Germany.

Chairman of the Indonesian Special Olympics' (SOIna's) Board of Executive, Warsito Ellwein, stated that the achievement outdid the planned target of nine gold medals.

"What is most important is our opportunity to show to the world that we are always together," he noted through a written statement on Sunday.

At the start, several individuals were in doubt over the contingent being able to achieve the target of nine gold medals. However, Indonesian athletes managed to outmatch that expectation, he remarked.

The Indonesian representatives' journey in Berlin ended ecstatically after Zakaria, a runner from Dompu, West Nusa Tenggara, once again pocketed a gold medal by winning the level A men's 400 m event.

Zakaria managed to win with a time record of 50.84 seconds over the silver medal winner from Botswana Lefika Ntebo, with a time record of 50.92 seconds.

Meanwhile, Cadel Cuffy, a 15-year-old runner from Trinidad and Tobago, bagged a bronze medal after clocking 53.12 seconds.

With this, Zakaria contributed two gold medals for Indonesia. A day before the event, he won the level A men's 100 m event.

"Today, I am very proud of contributing a gold medal to Indonesia once again," he remarked.

Indonesia collected a total of 10 gold, five silver, and eight bronze medals. The country's squad fielded 25 athletes from 17 provinces.

They participated in seven sports branches: badminton, swimming, table tennis, bowling, athletics, rhythmic and artistic gymnastics.

According the 2023 SOWSG's official website, some seven thousand athletes and officials from 170 countries participated in 24 sports branches.
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Translator: Muhammad Ramdan, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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