JAKARTA, JAKTIMES.COM- Indonesia emerged as the champion and won gold medals in several sports at the 23rd SEA Games in Cambodia. This achievement undoubtedly brings great pride to the participating athletes, including Henny Sutjiono, the captain of the national women’s basketball team.
“I am delighted, proud, and relieved to be part of history, as this is the first time the women’s basketball team has won a gold medal in the 46-year history of the SEA Games,” said Henny in her statement at Istana Merdeka, Jakarta, on Monday (06/05/2023).
Henny shared that the gold medal was the result of continuous hard work and relentless efforts. “We kept training hard, never gave up, and finally, we were able to step by step from bronze, then silver in the Vietnam SEA Games until we finally achieved gold,” Henny explained.
Henny also mentioned that the toughest opponent for the women’s basketball team in their quest for the gold medal was the Philippines, who had consistently won gold medals. However, in the 32nd SEA Games, the Indonesian women’s basketball team managed to defeat them.
“The Philippines had won consecutive gold medals in the SEA Games held in the Philippines and Vietnam. So, our main target was to beat the Philippines since we had lost to them in the first game in Vietnam,” Henny said
As quoted by Jaktimes.com from the official website of the state secretariat.
In addition, Prima Rinaldi, the captain of the hockey team, also expressed her joy as the hockey team succeeded in winning the gold medal at the 32nd SEA Games. This achievement marked a new milestone for Indonesia, as in the previous SEA Games in 2017, they had only won a silver medal.
“I am extremely happy because this feels like breaking an egg, creating a new history for Indonesian hockey,” Prima exclaimed.
Prima recounted that during the final match against Malaysia, her feelings were mixed as they had to chase the point deficit.
“It was a mix of emotions when we were playing, and we were down 3-0. We thought we couldn’t catch up, but we kept trying, fighting until we finally won. It was an amazing moment,” Prima explained.
Prima also expressed her hope that in the future, the sport of hockey would have its own league in Indonesia to develop the potential of hockey athletes in the country.
“For hockey, I hope we can have our own league because so far we don’t have one. In Malaysia, they already have a league, which allows them to start participating from a young age. In Indonesia, we mainly rely on regional sports events (Porda), National Games (PON), and it’s a bit challenging at the SEA Games,” Prima expressed her hopes.
A similar sense of pride was felt by Vivi Indrawaty, an e-sport athlete in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB), who also won a gold medal. Vivi stated that her achievement is expected to serve as motivation for future Indonesian e-sport athletes.
“So, for the future, it can serve as motivation for the upcoming generations, the Mobile Legends ladies, and it’s a great honor to be able to contribute to the country,” Vivi said (Wan)
