Vidya Rafika, A Change That Almost Has Fatal Results

The female shooting athlete, Vidya Rafika. (Photo via Antara)

JAKARTA - Vidya Rafika Rahmatan Toyyiba is a female shooting athlete who is Indonesia's mainstay in various international events. There is no doubt about his achievements.

His appearance is much different. At least, when compared to when he appeared at the XXXII/2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, which was 23 July-8 August 2021.

Vika's face, Vidya Rafika Rahmatan Toyyiba's nickname, is more thin. The rice is also more proportional, as reported by Antara.

Atlet yang dikenal sebagai sosok yang humble ini bercerita banyak saat bertemu dengan Antara, termasuk mengenai perubahan yang dialami dalam kurun waktu lebih dari 1 tahun tersebut.

The changes that Vika saw were none other than health and improving appearances. He ran a diet program that was carried out for 3 months after appearing at the Tokyo Olympics.

As a result, he managed to lose more than 12 kg. When representing Merah Putih in the world's 3nd edition of the world in Tokyo, Vika weighs 70 kg. Currently, it weighs 57kg.

The 21-year-old shooting struggle to get an ideal body is clearly not easy. Many things have to go through. Even his career as a shot at the PB Perbakin National Training Center (Pelatnas) is at stake.

At first, it never thought in Vika's mind that changes in weight will affect performance when aiming for targets. He also went on a diet without the knowledge of the Iranian coach Ali Reza.

No doubt, Vika got scolded by Ali. He even almost left the national training, to be precise when he was preparing for the XXXI/2021 SEA Games in Vietnam which rolled last year.

The reason is the decline in performance experienced by the shooter who was born on May 27, 2021, for 1 year after appearing at the Tokyo Olympics.

The shooter from Depok, West Java, said the coaching team initially thought that the decline was due to frustration after appearing less than optimal at the Tokyo Olympics.

At that time, Vika, who was Indonesia's only representative from the shooting branch, was stopped in the qualifying round. In the women's 10 m air rifle, she took 35 of the 50 participants by pocketing a score of 622.0.

Then he was in the last position or 37 with a score of 1137-31x when he fell in the number 50 m air rifle three position of the daughter.

Vika firmly denied losing her motivation after returning from Tokyo. The weight loss was not due to frustration and she also managed to convince Ali Reza and continued to struggle to return to achieving.

The jacket that is usually used in action must also be changed to adjust to Vika's "new" body shape. Now Vika is wearing a green jacket, leaving the historic yellow jacket she used before, including when appearing at the Tokyo Olympics.

Vika's performance dropped drastically because the 161 cm woman had to make adjustments. Losing weight more than 12 kg had a big impact on Vika's balance when aiming for the target. Everything changed which resulted in a decline in performance.

As a comparison, Vika has a record for a distance of 10 meters at 631. After the Tokyo Olympics, the score that Vika got was around 615. Very far.

This condition made the coach have to rack his brain. Finally, Ali Reza also made the decision to focus more on Vika at number 50 meters.

Not without reason, said Vika, losing weight thanks to a healthy lifestyle and regular exercise has also had an impact on increasing power.

Number 50 meters, the rifle used can be twice as heavy as the air rifle for the 10 meter number. He still competes in the two numbers, but the portion for 50 meters is more.

This happened when Vika competed in the Shooting World Cup or the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol 2023 at Senayan Shooting Field, Jakarta, on 27 January-7 February.

At that time, he was able to contribute bronze with Audrey Zahra Dhiyaanisa and Diaz Kusumawardani while competing in the 50 m rifle 3 position in the women's team by defeating South Korea represented by Jahee Kim/Gilhye Jeon/Kyerim Lee in the final round of the race for third place with a thin score of 16-14.

Slowly but surely, Vika continued to progress with his 57kg body. When he competed in the 2023 Asian Rifle/Pistol Cup at Senayan Shooting Field, March 1-10, the score continued to improve by getting 624.5 in the women's 10-meter water rifle qualifying round.

Vika is optimistic that he will continue to rise until he can qualify to be able to return to appear at the biggest sporting event in the world, namely the XXXIII/2024 Olympics in Paris, France.

Vika's weight, which fell 12 kg from before, also brought big changes to life. He was even more confident or confident when competing in various championships.

Even in terms of training, said Vika, from the previous feeling of laziness, not at this time. Because, according to him, physical training is getting lighter.

He had experience from the process of losing weight. However, the weight loss that was done was classified as too fast. Supposedly, the diet is carried out in stages.

Now, Vika's big dream is to qualify for the Paris Olympics. However, before that there were a number of other major events that would be faced such as the XIX/2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

Then various other events included in the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) calendar also awaited Vika throughout 2023.

"I will show that with a healthy body, I can excel. The time will be decisive. I have a lot of experience so I believe I can quickly return to my best performance," concluded Vika.