JAKARTA - The Indonesian men's volleyball team won the gold medal at the 2021 SEA Games in Hanoi. This repeats the same success at the previous SEA Games in the Philippines, 2017.
The victory further confirmed Indonesia's status, which has dominated volleyball in Southeast Asia with a collection of 10 golds since its first participation in the SEA Games in 1977.
This success added to the confidence of the Indonesian men's volleyball team. The next target is to compete in the Asian arena.
The manager of the volleyball team, Loudry Maspaitella, assessed that Indonesia is now on a par with the teams in Asia, not Southeast Asia anymore.
"Looking at the game earlier, and the achievements of the Indonesian men's volleyball team who managed to defend the gold medal, we deserve to appear at the 2022 Asian Games," Loudry said in an official statement quoted by Antara, Sunday, May 22.
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"The SEA Games must be formed from teams filled with young players so that regeneration continues. Let this team (SEA Games 2021) play in Asia. We are on a different level with other teams in Southeast Asia at this time," he continued.
Hernanda Zulfi conveyed a similar ambition. One of the pillars of the Indonesian men's volleyball team is determined to bring the volleyball team to the Asian level.
"We played full of excitement. There was no burden at all. We have believed in gold from the start. We are now thinking about Asia, not Southeast Asia anymore," he said.
Japan is still the king of men's volleyball at the Asian Games with a collection of 16 gold, followed by China in second place with 11 gold, and South Korea in third with five gold.
Meanwhile, Indonesian men's volleyball has never won a medal, let alone reached the final round of the Asian Games, since participating in 1962 for the first time.
At the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, Merah Putih was only able to reach the quarter-finals after losing 0-3 to South Korea.
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