Indonesian Kempo Athletes Contribute Medals In The E-Kempo World Championship

JAKARTA - Even though the COVID-19 pandemic is not over yet. Two Indonesian kempo athletes can still make achievements by donating medals.

Tuti Narlima and Aldziqri Faqih AS Saleh performed brilliantly at the virtual kempo world championship. This championship is entitled "The 1st E-Kempo IKF World Championship 2020".

Based on data collected by Antara, Tuesday, July 28 from the Indonesian Kempo Sports Association (Porkemi), Tuti Narlima won a silver medal for the women's individual word number for ages 21-37 years.

The gold medal was won by the Spanish athlete, Laura Esteban, while the bronze was won by Carolina Fonseca (Portugal) and Erika Ruiz (Mexico).

Meanwhile, Aldziqri Faqih AS Saleh won a bronze medal with Camilo Echeverria (Argentina). Gold and silver medals, respectively won by the home athletes Martim Carvalho and Guillermo Jerez (Spain).

"We are very proud because two Indonesian athletes can win silver and bronze medals. We are not playing around in fielding athletes," said Chairman of the Porkemi Supervisory and Member Advisory Board (DPPA), Timbul Thomas Lubis in his official statement.

According to him, before determining athletes to compete in the world championships, his party had virtually selected athletes from the regions. To do this, they were asked to send a video demonstrating their abilities and expertise in the numbers that were being followed.

After being selected by the Porkemi team, the video was sent to the world championships in Portugal.

Timbul admitted that Tuti Narlima and Aldziqri Saleh were the champions of last year's Kempo National Championship. He hopes that the achievements of Tuti and Aldziqri can be an encouragement for other athletes to be able to win similar awards.

"The 1st E-Kempo IKF World Championship 2020", July 18-19 is a championship held by the International Kempo Federation (IKF) whose aim is to fill the championship void due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the event was to replace the kempo world championships in Tunisia, last April 18-24, which had to be postponed for years.

Even though the championship is held virtually, the competition is considered quite fierce because many IKF member countries have fielded their best athletes. The countries that sent the knights to the event included the host country Portugal, Spain, Argentina, Mexico, India, Indonesia, the Netherlands and Colombia. Of all the countries that took part, Indonesia was the youngest member of the IKF.