It is only the halfway stage of the Asian Games yet hosts Indonesia have already secured their best-ever showing after surpassing the 11 golds they won at their first home Games in 1962.
Rifki Ardiansyah Arrosyiid’s triumph in men’s 60kg Karate event earned them their 11th gold before Aqsa Sutan Aswar won the jetski event in endurance runabout as Indonesia inched closer to their 16-gold target.
Arrosyiid beat Iran’s Amir Mahdi Zadeh 9-7 in the final and the performance of the 20-year-old, who serves in the Indonesian army, made head coach Syamsuddin optimistic of their prospects when karate makes it Olympic debut in Tokyo in two years’ time.
“I’m very happy. It’s only the second day of the tournament and we already have a gold through Rifki,” Syamsuddin told Reuters.
Malaysian Prem Kumar Selvam and Uzbek Sadriddin Saymatov claimed the two bronzes.
Mohamed Hasan Basri’s 65kg victory in the 2002 Games was the last time Indonesia won Asian Games karate gold.
“I’m sure we’ll do well in the Olympics too. Indonesia has tremendous potential in karate,” Syamsuddin said.
“Karate is very popular here. It’s a big country, and the competition is intense at the school and university levels.”
Syamsuddin hoped the hosts would continue their good show on Monday when four more karate golds will be on offer.
“Last time Indonesia won a karate gold was in 2002. Now we have the first gold, and two bronze. We’re expecting more medals tomorrow.”
‘I went all out’
Indonesia’s Emilia Nova won her country’s first Asian Games medal on the track since 1998 as she claimed silver in the 100 metres hurdles yesterday.
While much of the attention going into the night was on 18-year-old home sprinter Lalu Muhammad Zohri, who was seventh in the men’s 100m final, it was Nova who raised the volume in Jakarta’s Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium.
The 23-year-old ran a personal best time of 13.33 to finish second behind South Korea’s Jung Hye-lim.
“I went all out,” said Nova, who admitted to carrying a hip flexor injury into the race. “If I die, I die. Thankfully I won a medal, this is unexpected. Thanks to my parents, to all Indonesians, and to the Indonesian Athletics Federation,” added Nova, who has also competed in the heptathlon in the past.
Indonesian athletics had come into the Games looking to secure at least one track and field medal having last won one with Supriati Sutono’s 5,000m gold in 1998.
Now, there is a new national hero.
“Competing in Indonesia is more like motivation than a burden because I feel happy many people came and supported me,” said Nova.
“This silver medal means a lot.”