3 Lifters Who Won The 2022 World Championship Medals Arriving In The Country

Three Indonesian lifters who successfully won medals at the 2022 Weightlifting World Championship at Gran Carpa Americas Corferias, Bogota, Colombia arrived in Indonesia (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Three Indonesian lifters who successfully won medals at the 2022 Weightlifting World Championship at Gran Carpa Americas Corferias, Bogota, Colombia, 5-16 December, arrived in the country, Saturday night WIB.

They are Rahmat Erwin Abdullah, Rizki Juniansyah, and Eko Yuli Irawan who are members of the first batch of the Indonesian Weightlifting Team's return.

Secretary General of the Indonesian Weightlifting Association (PB PABSI), Djoko Pramono, and other board members also picked up athletes at Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Tangerang, Banten.

On this occasion, Djoko Pramono appreciated the struggle of Indonesian lifters to make achievements in the first point search event for tickets to the XXXIII/2024 Olympics in Paris, France.

"The journey to get tickets to the Paris Olympics is still long, especially next year and we have mapped out at least six championships, among those required to be events in Thailand and Saudi Arabia," Djoko Pramono told media crews at Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Saturday.

He revealed that Indonesia's score in Colombia with 3 gold, 4 silver, and 1 bronze was quite encouraging.

This result also answers the government's challenge, in this case the Ministry of Youth and Sports (Kemenpora), who hopes that PABSI can pass as many athletes as possible to the 2024 Olympics.

"I am optimistic that we can pass 7 to 8 lifters at the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics. For this reason, lifters are expected to remain consistent in maintaining achievements, especially in facing a series of championships that are qualifiers for the 2024 Olympics," said Djoko, quoting Antara, Sunday.

PABSI thanks the Ministry of Youth and Sports for providing support both in the form of tools and material to lifters during Pelatnas to the departure of athletes participating in overseas championships such as the 2022 World Championships in Colombia.

"We want to prove that the full attention given by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, we reply with a qualified achievement. We hope that the following year, the Ministry of Youth and Sports can increase the assistance provided to us again," said Djoko.

Meanwhile, Rahmat Erwin said he would continue to struggle to be able to make higher achievements. Erwin in Colombia successfully brought home two gold in the men's 73kg class for the clean and jerk class with 200kg and a total lift of 352kg.

Even for clean and jerk, the result also broke the world record belonging to gold winner at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Shi Zhiyong from China, who at the 2019 World Championships with 197kg.

"Next year's challenge is getting tougher especially to catch up on points to qualify for the 2024 Olympics. I will focus more on training and improving my class," said the bronze winner at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Likewise, Rizki Juniansyah won one gold and two silver in the men's 73kg number.

He was the best in the men's 73kg class in the snatch with 155kg. Rizki also won silver in the clean and jerk lift with 192kg and a total lift of 347kg.

"This is my first experience appearing in a senior world championship after I previously took part in the junior level. I hope that my achievements will be even better and be able to follow in the footsteps of Rahmat Erwin Abdullah and Eko Yuli Irawan to appear in the upcoming 2024 Olympics," said Rizki.

Lifter Eko Yuli Irawan in the men's 61kg class came home with two silver and one bronze. Eko won the silver in the clean and jerk class with 175kg and a total lift of 300kg. While the snatch with 135kg produced bronze.

"I have often won medals at the World Championships. However, since before leaving for Colombia I have targeted to improve my class to qualify for the 2024 Olympics," said Eko.