Asian Games 2023, Reflection On Host's Firmness And Failure Of The Red And White Contingent

Asian Games 2023. (Photo via Antara)

JAKARTA - The 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, China, officially ended on Sunday, October 8. The hosts were so dominant at this event, while Indonesia had to bite their fingers.

For the hosts, the 2023 Asian Games are increasingly confirming the fact that the Bamboo Curtain country has now truly proven itself to be a superpower in the multipolar era.

They are not only strong in the fields of regional diplomacy, the economy, or the most up-to-date technology, but also qualified on the sporting stage.

Proven until the end of the Asian Games this time, the country led by Xi Jinping dominated almost all the sports competed. That can be seen from the number of medals the host contingent managed to collect that far behind a number of rivals, such as Japan and South Korea.

Two of the closest rivals who took up and third runners positions in the final standings of the Asian Games, which had been delayed by a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, struggled to catch up with China. The total number of medals that the two countries have won if combined is still lost to those that the hosts managed to collect.

For a smaller regional scope of Southeast Asia, Thailand is the representative of countries in the region that managed to break into the top 10 rankings, namely in 8th position after winning a total of 58 medals with details of 12 gold, 14 silver, and 32 bronze.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian contingent had to settle for the 13th place after being able to gain only 7 gold, 11 silver and 18 bronze. Just below Indonesia, the Malaysian neighboring country has collected a total of 32 medals, consisting of 6 gold, 8 silver, and 18 bronze.

Other ASEAN countries also suffered the same fate, slumped with a very minimalist collection of medals. The Philippines is ranked 17, Singapore (20), Vietnam (21), Myanmar (27), Brunei Darussalam (32), Laos (35), Cambodia (38), and even Timor Leste was unable to win a single medal.

For Indonesia, the position ranked 13th in Asia after being able to gain only 7 gold clearly missed the set target. The Ministry of Youth and Sports previously launched the Red and White target in Hangzhou to be able to reach the top 12 with 12 gold medals.

Meanwhile, President Jokowi demanded more aggressive achievements, namely being able to penetrate the top 10 results of the struggle of 415 athletes and 161 officials from 31 sports followed by the Indonesian team.

The Minister of Youth and Sports (Menpora) Dito Ariotedjo stated that despite thorough preparation and hard work by Indonesian athletes, the results obtained at the 2022 Asian Games did not match expectations.

"I would like to apologize to all Indonesian people and the President of the Republic of Indonesia because the target of the top 10 has not been achieved," said the Menpora, as quoted from Antara.

It must be admitted that there are many factors that play a role in determining whether the targets are met from a sport competed in Hangzhou. There were targets that missed, but there were also surprises that came from a number of arenas that had previously been under consideration.

For example, the surprise of two gold medals was presented from the shooting sport through Muhammad Sejahtera Dwi Putra in the 10m running target for men's singles and 10m running for mixed team targets.

This is a historical record in itself after the sport successfully ended its fasting gold medal for 69 years since shooting for the first time contested at the 1954 Asian Games.

Likewise, other gold from the wushu branch, women's BMX bicycles and weightlifting, which were presented by Harris Horatus, Amelya Nur Sifa and Rahmat Erwin Abdullah, broke the world record of 201kg of the men's 73kg clean and jerk class into a sweet story on the Asian Games stage this time.

Meanwhile, a dark record that contributed significantly to the missed target was recorded from the superior Red and White sports, such as rock climbing and badminton.

From the rock climbing arena at the Shaoxing Keqiao Yangshan Sport Climbing Center, Indonesian athletes who have actually been poor in various world-level championships and even hold world records such as Veddriq Leonardo and Kiromal Katibin, have to give up losing at least three golden medals from the 15m high-speed shootout.

In the amount of three money with rock climbing, the leading badminton branch, which is expected to contribute at least three gold medals, failed completely after not a single Indonesian champion managed to penetrate the semifinals.

Hangzhou is Indonesia's worst record because for the first time in the history of the Asian Games, Indonesia failed to win a single medal from the seven events competed, both teams and individuals.

Indonesia has been seen as one of the top countries for badminton. Therefore, the failure to win medals from the Asian Games stage this time is a valuable momentum to evaluate for the achievement and integrity of badminton itself in the next international arena.

In general, citing what Menpora Dito said, the failure to achieve the achievement target is an important moment of introspection for the Indonesian sports world. He hopes that the disappointment with the current results will actually be a motivation to improve the achievements and quality of preparations for Indonesian athletes in the future.

Moreover, not long after that, a multi-branch sporting event will be held which is larger than the Hangzhou Asian Games, namely the Paris Olympics in 2024.

"We will evaluate the total number of sports participating in the Asian Games and we will analyze those who missed the target. If we sit down together and we look for the best solution," said Dito, quoted by Antara.