This Is Rizky Juniansyah's Ritual Before Participating In The Competition: Washing Mother's Feet And Drinking The Water

Indonesian lifter Rizky Juniansyah in a press conference Thursday, May 16, 2024. (Photo: Cosmas Kopong Beda/VOI)

JAKARTA Indonesia's flagship lifter Rizky Juniansyah said that he often performs the ritual of washing his mother's feet and drinking washing water before competing.

Rizky said that meeting his mother before the match was a golden opportunity for him. Usually he uses that time to ask for prayers and blessings from the mother.

"I before leaving [the match] always kissed, washed my mother's feet and drank the water," Rizky told the media crew on Thursday, May 16 yesterday.

This year Rizky will be part of the Indonesian contingent which will depart for Paris, France, to take part in the world's most massive multi-branch event, the Olympics.

Rizky got a ticket there after he successfully won the 2024 World Weightlifting Cup or IWF World Cup at 73 kilograms in Phuket, Thailand, last April.

Rizky said that winning an Olympic gold medal is the dream of all athletes. However, a tough challenge must be passed in preparing for the event.

The biggest challenge is to relieve boredom, boredom, and fatigue. And that's a challenge for me, at my age who is still in doubt. This is a tough sport that needs to be consistent," he said.

Getting tickets to the Olympics is actually beyond Rizky's own prediction. Moreover, the class he made at the World Championships in Thailand he never did in training.

Rizky hopes that he can maintain his time performance in Phuket when appearing in Paris later. As a world record holder, he hopes to make history there.

"The best hope is because this is my first Olympics and has its own target, which is to repeat the previous results," he said.

The Paris Olympics will take place from July 26 to August 11. Indonesia has a target of getting more than two gold medals.

Weightlifting is one of the sports for Indonesia to meet that target. In history, the contributor to the Olympic gold medal for Indonesia was only badminton.