Respect Local Wisdom, Wrestling Only Holds One Match, Roxana Is Favorite In Women's 76kg Class

Wrestling PON XX Papua only held one match to respect local wisdom. (Ist Photo)

MERAUKE - The third day of the Papua XX PON wrestling competition, Sunday 10 October, only one class will compete. The fight for the gold medal in the women's 76kg freestyle class, which will start at 13.30 local time or 11.30 western Indonesia time at Head Sai Sports Building, Merauke. Weighing and match times were brought forward by a few hours.

This is done to respect local wisdom where the majority of Merauke city residents worship in church on Sundays. It was agreed that only one match would be held, which was also the last medal of the six classes in the women's group. The race for 12 gold medals in the men's group, each from the six categories of men's freestyle classes and six men's grego style classes, will be held starting Monday 11 October afternoon.

The duel in the women's 76kg class has the potential to present a very tough and interesting match. In this class, the main favorite is the South Kalimantan wrestler, Rahma Syufia, or better known as Natrusnicu Roxana Andreaa. However, in the group stage, she must be wary of the resistance of Yunita Wanma (Papua) and Yanti Hernanti (West Java).

For the national wrestling community the name Natruniscu Roxana Andreea is already very popular. She is a naturalized wrestler from Romania, but since 2015 she has become an Indonesian citizen, and a contributor to the gold medal in South Kalimantan at the 2016 PON XIX in Bandung, West Java. Qualifying from the group stage, the wrestler who was born in Resita, Romania, January 13, 1989, has the potential to be challenged by Indri Sukmaningsih (Jambi) or Varadisa Septi (East Java), who both have the opportunity to win the gold medal in the 76kg class.

One other competitor, Irma Apriyanti (Belitung), also cannot be underestimated her ability to make a surprise in this class. Ima is also known to have prepared herself very hard to face the XX 2021 Papua PON.

Of the five classes that have been staged in the women's group PON XX Papua, East Java leads with the acquisition of 2 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze. West Java followed with 2-1-0, followed by Banten 1-0-0. Others, East Kalimantan 0-1-3, West Sumatra 0-1-1. Meanwhile, DKI Jakarta, Babel, Bengkulu, Jambi, Central Java, South Sumatra, North Sumatra, and the host Papua have not yet received medals.