Not Given A Gold Medal Target For The 2023 SEA Games, Megawati Instead Saves Taekwondo Indonesia's Face

Indonesian Taekwondo athlete Megawati Tamesti Maheswari (right) competed against Thailand's Taekwondo athlete Chutikan Jongkorattanawattana (left) in the taekwondo under' 53 kilograms of women's SEA Games 2023 match. (Photo via Antara)

JAKARTA - The taekwondo sport donated one gold medal for Indonesia at the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia. Megawati Tamesti Maheswari is Indonesia's taekwondo face savior.

Megawati won the final match against Thai athlete Chutikan Jongkoltattanawattana with a score of 2-1 at the Convention and Exhibition Center, Phnom Penh.

The manager of the Taekwondo Indonesia National Team, Laras Fitriana Novianty Sumarna, said Megawati's victory was quite surprising. The reason is, at the beginning he was not targeted to win a gold medal.

"You could say it was surprising because there were actually two athletes who were targeted for gold medals, one of which was Ni Kadek Heni Prikasih. But indeed taekwondo is dynamic. Megawati appeared confident so that her efforts could be the best," said Laras, as reported by Antara.

Laras did not deny that currently in Southeast Asia the competition for taekwondo is tight. All countries in the ASEAN region, said Laras, are making great efforts to prepare themselves to be the best at the biennial sporting event.

"They brought in coaches from Korea, just like us. Our athletes have also given their best and actually their performance has increased, but the target has not been met," Laras added.

Overall, taekwondo Indonesia 1 gold, 4 silver, and 4 bronze. The results did not reach the target set by the Executive Board of Taekwondo Indonesia (PBTI), namely 2 gold.

As for the 2023 SEA Games, the 4 silvers won by Indonesia each through Wawan Saputra (men's freestyle poolmsae), Osanindo Naifal Khairudin (men's 80kg occupancy), Nicholas Armanto (men's 87 loss), and Ni Kadek Heni Prikasih (women's 46kg loss).

Then for the bronze, respectively Muhammad Bassam Raihan (men's 63kg loss), Adam Yazid Ferdyansyah (men's 68 kg loss), Silvana Lamanda (women's 67kg loss), and Dinda Putri Lestari (women's 73kg loss).

In the biggest sporting event in Southeast Asia with the 32nd edition for the taekwondo sport, Thailand dominated by being at the top of the medal list with 7 gold, 6 silver, 2 bronze.

Then the Philippines was in second place with 6 gold, 1 silver, 4 bronze, and Vietnam in third place bagged 4 gold, 5 silver, and 3 bronze.

Malaysia is in fourth place with 3 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze. Then above Indonesia there is the host Cambodia with 2 gold, 4 silver, 7 bronze.

Laras also said he would conduct an evaluation with this achievement, considering that Indonesia will then take part in the 2023 Taekwondo World Championship in Baku, Azerbaijan from May 29 to June 6.

"Of course we will evaluate it quickly. Because in 10 days there will be a World Championship. The selection of athletes will be carried out after the evaluation. Of course we hope to be even more in the future," concluded Laras.