The Story Of The Hero Of The Tokyo Olympics, Apriyani Rahayu: Father Made Wooden Rackets To Carve Badminton History

Greysia/Apriyani (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Badminton or badminton is a type of sport that can be played by all age groups, including children, teenagers, adults and the elderly.

This sport can also be played by all groups, not only the elite and class, but can be played by people with a mediocre economy.

With a racket and a net, badminton can be played in doubles, both among men, women, sons and daughters or singly.

This game is popular in remote areas, including Konawe Regency, Southeast Sulawesi Province (Sultra).

Who would have thought, this area gave birth to a daughter and succeeded in making the Indonesian nation proud through badminton at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The girl's name is Apriyani Rahayu, a badminton athlete born in Lawulo Village, Anggaberi District, Konawe Regency, Southeast Sulawesi (Southeast Sulawesi).

The girl who was born on April 29, 1998, has made history with her colleague Greysia Polii.

Together with Greysia Polii, Apriyani successfully won a gold medal in the women's doubles badminton at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after getting rid of the Chinese women's doubles Chen Qing Chen / Jia Yi Fan on Monday, with the numbers 21-19, 21-15.

Apriyani, the youngest of four siblings, is the baby of the couple Ameruddin Pora and Siti Jauhar (deceased).

Since Greysia/Apriyani won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics on Monday, all eyes and attention are now on them. There is a sense of pride and emotion in all Indonesian people.

As the number one women's doubles player in Indonesia, Apriyani Rahayu's struggle to reach this point was not easy.

Apriyani's father, Ameruddin Pora, witnessed how his daughter struggled from zero to become a professional and world-class player.

Through his cell phone, Ameruddin told Antara, his son started holding a racket at the age of three, a very young age.

When the father saw his son began to enjoy playing badminton, the father's heart was knocked to make a racket even though it was made of wood with fishing line.

In his childhood, the family's mediocre economic conditions made Apriyani Rahayu have to practice badminton with the simplest of tools.

Even though it looks very simple, his son doesn't mind his father's racket, even little Apriyani enjoys playing with her father's racket.

Not infrequently, when little Apriyani's racket strings broke, her father moved quickly to connect and re-knit the racket strings. In between knitting the strings of the father's racket, there is a prayer that his son will become a professional player.

Seeing his son getting more and more fond of playing badminton, Ameruddin then took the initiative to build a field behind their house. On the field, Apriyani played with her peers.

Unexpectedly, the parents' efforts and encouragement paid off for Apriyani.

Ameruddin admitted that he was very proud to have a daughter who made the nation proud and had made history that the daughter of the Konawe Regency with her colleague Greysia Polii, who is also of North Sulawesi Minahasa blood, won the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

mother talent

Ameruddin recounted that his son, who is now 23 years old, inherited the talent of his mother who died in 2015.

"Because her mother (the late Ibu Apriyani) played badminton, table tennis and volleyball which she enjoyed. So that was the talent of her late mother," Amiruddin said, as reported by Antara.

Amiruddin said that Apriyani's mother, Siti Jauhar, educated and instilled a courageous and enthusiastic spirit in her child since childhood.

In fact, he said, the tough and hard soul that was in his son was the success of his late wife's upbringing.

In the eyes of the father, Apriyani is a tough child, hard in the sense of not giving up easily and continuing to try even with limited conditions.

The father admitted that the education was all carried out by Apriyani's late mother.

"If the figure of Apriyani is tough, she is tough, she wants to win. From a young age she was educated. First, it was not me, her mother, the deceased," he said.

Apriyani is the youngest of four siblings and the only daughter.

Amiruddin said, since his son liked badminton, even before he entered elementary school, Ameruddin directed his son to continue practicing badminton. Apri started the exercise at the Unaaha Joint Activities Facility (SKB) Building, Konawe Regency, which is 9 kilometers from his house.

In 2005, Apriyani started to participate in the sub-district level badminton tournament, a year later she participated in the Konawe district level junior badminton event.

When he was in sixth grade, his achievements were even more brilliant. Apriyani then participated in the Regional Sports Week (Porda) of Southeast Sulawesi in Raha city, Muna district in 2007 and won second place.

Ameruddin, the father is an employee at the Konawe Agriculture Service UPTD. Meanwhile, Siti Jauhar is only a housewife.

The results of his hard work were not in vain. In several provincial level matches, for the junior class he always excelled.

Ameruddin said Apriyani's mother was the person who most supported her child's dream. The mother even always accompanied her son to compete, especially when he was still at the junior level.

In order to continue to hone his skills as a professional badminton player, Apriyani Rahayu first joined PB Pelita Bakri on September 3, 2011 when former badminton world champion Icuk Sugiarto became chairman of PBSI DKI Jakarta and then finally moved to PB Jayaraya Jakarta until now.

When asked if Apriyani had time to return home before appearing in the Tokyo Olympics, Amiruddin said that a week before appearing in the Olympics, his son had returned to visit his mother's grave.

Apriyani's mother died when the badminton player was participating in a championship in Lima, Peru, on November 10, 2015. When she entered the field to compete, Apriyani was asked to leave because there was news that her mother had died. But Apriyani continued the match and won the championship.

Touching on his hopes after winning a gold medal at the Olympics, he said his son could still appear as a champion at international events.

Prayer

Ameruddin admitted that he and his late wife always fully supported Apriyani to become a professional badminton player.

While laughing, Ameruddin admitted that if there was 200 percent, he would give the support to his son.

He is willing to be separated by distance from his only daughter in order to support Apriyani's career.

Because he is far away from Apriyani, the father can only entrust a piece of prayer in every prostration of his prayer so that his son is always given health by God Almighty.

The father believed, the power of prayer above all else. So he always prays for his son, including praying for his colleague Greysia Polii.

"Anyway, every time I pray, I pray for him with Greysia Polii, nothing else is more reliable than prayer ... because we don't have a will but God has a will," he said.

Ameruddin also admitted that he never bothered Apriyani when she was practicing in Jakarta. Even though the longing came, he only asked God to keep Apriyani healthy and successful.

"As long as he is trained in Jakarta, we don't disturb him, even though it's a matter of new years coming home, because if he is disturbed left and right how will there be results," said the father.

"Let's just pray from here so that he is always healthy, if we want to follow his wishes, we miss him, we disturb him then he can't get results," added the father.

However, Ameruddin is grateful that Apriyani also regularly contacts him via video calls, and is always informed about his condition.

The father admitted that he always received news from Apriyani when she was not practicing. Even the child always calls before and after a match, before eating, until before going to bed.

He hopes that his son will not be satisfied with the current achievements because there are still many achievements in the future that must be achieved, as well as having a good and friendly nature to everyone.

"There is nothing else, the main thing is that we continue to support it. But don't feel satisfied, if you are satisfied it means you don't want to try anymore because you are satisfied. And secondly, don't be arrogant. Those two are the key, don't get satisfied quickly and don't be arrogant," said Ameruddin.

Since badminton was first played at the Olympics in 1992, this is the first time the women's doubles event has won a gold medal. In 1992, badminton contributed two gold from Susy Susanti and Alan Budikusuma, then the 1996 Olympics pair Ricky Subagja/Rexy Mainaky (men's doubles) won gold.

At the 2000 Olympics, the men's doubles by Chandra Wijaya/Tony Gunawan who won the gold medal, followed by the 2004 Olympics by Taufik Hidayat who won the gold medal in the men's singles. At the 2008 Olympics the Hendra Setiawan/Markis Kido pair won gold in the men's doubles again, and the 2016 Olympics the Tontowi Ahmad/Lilyana Natsir pair won gold in the mixed doubles.