RI Weightlifting At Tokyo Olympics: The Map Of Strength Is Clear, Just A Strategy Competition

JAKARTA - The strategy of the coaching team will be an important factor in the fight for medals in the weightlifting branch of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Coach Dirdja Wihardja said that the strategy will be finalized after the technical meeting on Thursday, July 22.

“The determination to enter group B or A is determined by the total number of the best registered batches. From the total batches registered, then we can determine how many kilograms we want in the snatch and clean & jerk. If the list of opponents already exists (at the technical meeting), it's as if the best batch has been issued," said Dirdja, Wednesday, July 21.

Dirdja said that if the total number of batches registered was known, the training team would formulate a strategy for the combination of forces to be carried out.

While in competition, the coaching team will continue to monitor the progress of the opponent to determine the next step. Dirdja gave an example of what happened at the 2016 Rio Olympics where strategies were devised to secure a medal for Eko.

“So initially we immediately tried to secure a medal. After the total force is approximately safe for medals, then we chase the gold medal. At that time the Colombian lifter was successful in the second batch, so he won the gold medal,” he said.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many qualifying competitions were cancelled, making it quite difficult to monitor the total official batch of potential rivals from Indonesia. The two competitions taking place in 2021 are the Asian Championships and the World Junior Championships in Uzbekistan.

Currently, all members of the Indonesian weightlifting team have gathered in Tokyo. The first group consisting of Eko Yuli Irawan, Windy Cantika, Rahmat Erwin Abdullah, and Nurul Akmal arrived in Tokyo on Sunday, July 18. Meanwhile, Deni only joined on Wednesday, July 21.

Since arriving in Tokyo, all athletes are safe and sound, and can start training right away.

“Alhamdulillah, all athletes are healthy and in safe condition. They undergo tests every day and the results are negative," said Dirdja.