Indonesia's Schedule At The Tokyo Paralympics Today, Friday 27 August: Waiting For The Second Medal Of The Red And White Team

Illustration - Indonesian para-cyclist for the Tokyo Paralympics Muhammad Fadli Imammudin during his third day of training at the Izu Velodrome (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Four Indonesian representatives, namely Muhammad Fadli Imammudin from para-cycling, Saptoyoga Purnomo from para-athletic, and Komet Akbar and Adyos Astan from table tennis will continue the struggle of the Red and White Contingent at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, Friday.

Launching Antara, from the number of athletes who performed today, two of them Fadli and Saptoyoga will compete to be able to get medals at the biggest sports event in the world for athletes with disabilities.

Muhammad Fadli Imammudin will start the Red and White path today by competing in the number C4 4000m individual pursuit for the men's para-cycling sport at the Izu Velodrome starting at 08:38 WIB.

Fadli will first compete in the qualifying round with six other world cyclists namely, Andre Luiz Grizante (Brazil), Diego German Duenas (Colombia), Carol-Eduard Novak (Romania), Sergei Pudov (RPC), Jozef Metelka (Slovakia), and Ronan Grimes (Ireland).

From the results of the qualification, the two participants with the best time records are entitled to advance to the final to compete for the gold medal which is scheduled to roll on the same day at 13:22 WIB.

While the third and fourth positions in the qualifying round will compete for the bronze medal at 13:15 WIB.

Looking at the competition map, Fadli's chance to get a medal is open. Moreover, one of the toughest opponents, namely Jody Cundy from Great Britain will not compete in the men's C4 4000 meter individual pursuit number.

In addition, the coach Fadillah Umar said Fadli had made a series of preparations and was ready to appear today.

"From the beginning, Fadli's preparation was indeed to appear in the 4000 meter number because he has good endurance. With Cundy's absence, it opens up competition between racers," said Fadillah Umar in a press release by NPC Indonesia received by Antara, Thursday.

In the absence of Cundy, Fadli's other toughest competitor in the race will be the representative of Slovakia, Jozef Metelka, the world's number one cyclist who specializes in the 4000 m. He even won a bronze medal in the C4-C5 1000 m time trial in Tokyo.

Besides Metelka, another tough rival is the world number two cyclist from Romania Carol-Eduard Novak.

However, Fadillah Umar assessed that his team still had the opportunity to record the best time based on the results of the previous championships.

In the C4 4000 m individual pursuit, Fadli had the best time at the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Milton, Canada in February 2020 when he finished seventh in 4 minutes 59,520 seconds.

Previously, the 37-year-old man also won a gold medal at the 2018 Asian Para Games in that discipline.

In other words, today is Fadli's opportunity to make up for his failure after yesterday finishing 17th in the C4-C5 1000 m time trial by recording a time of 1 minute 10.423 seconds.

He was 8.886 seconds adrift of Spanish gold medalist Alfonso Cabello Llamas in 1 minute 01.557 seconds.

Para-athletic debut

Apart from Fadli, the para-athletic sport will also make its debut at the Tokyo Paralympics, today, through Saptoyoga Purnomo who competed in the men's 100m T37 sprint.

Saptoyoga Purnomo will make his debut in heat one at the Olympic Stadium at 09:56 WIB. From the list of participants in attendance, he will compete with five athletes from other countries.

Two of them are from Brazil, namely Christian Gabriel Luiz da Costa and Mateus Evangelista Cardoso. The rest are Vladyslav Zahrebelnyi (Ukraine), Andrei Vdovin (RPC), and Brian Lionel Implellizzeri (Argentina).

Reflecting on the personal best of each participant registered at the Tokyo Paralympics, Indonesian representatives have the opportunity to qualify for the final which is scheduled to take place on the same day at 17:25 WIB.

Saptoyoga Purnomo had the best time of 11.46 seconds. This figure is the third best from other competitors, namely Andrei Vdovin (11.19 seconds) and Christian Gabriel Luiz da Costa (11.29).

While the rest have personal best: Mateus Evangelista Cardoso (11.47), Vladyslav Zahrebelnyi (11.69), and Brian Lionel Implellizzeri (11.97).

If in the qualifying round the position does not change, Saptoyoga Purnomo can advance to the final which takes the top three positions from each heat.

Two para-tennis representatives are underdog

Meanwhile, in the para-table tennis branch, two Indonesian representatives will return, namely Komet Akbar and Adyos Astan.

Komet Akbar will struggle to play one last match in the preliminary round of Group A class 10 to be able to catch up with compatriot David Jacobs, who had already confirmed his ticket to the quarter-finals.

Great Comet will face the French representative Gilles de la Bourdonnaye at the second table of the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, today, at 11:00 WIB.

The match was a life-and-death match between the two athletes because previously they were both defeated by the Polish representative who is also the first seed Patryk Chojnowski.

Comet Akbar lost 0-3 (5-11, 7-11, 6-11), while Bourdonnaye lost 1-3 (6-11, 8-11, 11-8, 4-11).

For Comet and Bourdonnaye, today's match will be their first meeting. In terms of ranking, Indonesia's representative ranks 21 in the world. While the opponent is better by being in 11th position in the world.

The Red and White representative from another table tennis branch who will continue his struggle is Adyos Astan. He will face Egypt's Sameh Mohamed Saleh in the round of 16 class 4 at table eight of the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium at 11:40 WIB.

Adyos Astan's opportunity to qualify for the quarter-finals is wide open. The reason is that from a total of six previous meetings, Indonesian representatives dominated by winning four.

Including in the match that took place in 2019. Adyos Astan recorded three defeats of Saleh in the PPT China Open 2019 for the team number, and the Egypt Open 2019 for the individual and team events.

Meanwhile, in the same year, Saleh only won one victory when he met Adyos Astan at the PPT China Open 2019 in individual numbers.

Schedule of the Indonesian contingent at the Tokyo Paralympics, Friday, 27 August 2021

Bicycle Para-racingMuhammad Fadli Imammudin08:38 WIB - Men's C4 4000m Individual Pursuit

Para-athleticSaptoyoga Purnomo - Men's 100m T3709:56 WIB - Heat 1

Para-table tennis11:40 WIB - Group A Stage 10 - Comet Akbar vs Gilles de la Bourdonnaye (France)11:40 WIB - Group A Quarter-finals Class 4 - Adyos Astan ves Sameh Mohamed Saleh (Egypt)