Wanting To End 'Unfortunate' At The Asian Games, I Gede Siman Sudartawa For Former Joseph Schooling Coach In The United States

Swimmer I Gede Siman Sudartawa. (Photo via ANTARA PHOTO/Aditya Pradana Putra)

JAKARTA - Indonesia's mainstay swimming athlete, I Gede Siman Sudartawa, will undergo a training camp in the United States ahead of the Hangzhou 2023 Asian Games. He will be forged by a coach who already has a big name.

The swimmer who specializes in the 50m jersey will be under world famous coach Sergio Lopez Miro. This figure brought Singaporean swimmer, Joseph Isaac Schooling, won the gold medal in the 100m butterfly at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Deputy Chairperson of PRSI, Harlin E. Rahardjo revealed, this step was taken so that Siman could end the Asian Games "cursion".

"Siman has never won a medal at the Asian Games. Currently, his achievements are rising again. We want to send him back to training in America, as during preparations for the 2018 Asian Games (Jakarta-Palembang)," Harlin said as quoted by Antara.

For Siman to train in Uncle Sam's country, it is also a reunion with Sergio Lopez. In the 2018 Asian Games, he underwent a similar program with the result being the fastest in the qualifying session with 25.01 seconds.

The torehan at that time also listed his name as the national record holder (rekornas) number 50m of the men's backstroke until now.

Unfortunately in the 2018 Asian Games final, Siman was only able to occupy the fifth position with a time of 25.29 seconds. He lost to Xu Jiayu from China who won gold with 24.75 seconds.

Meanwhile, silver belonged to Ryosuke Irie (Japan) with 24.88 seconds and Kang Ji-seok (South Korea) won bronze after posting 25.17 seconds.

"At that time (Asian Games 2018) the results were good. Unfortunately in the final he was not performing. But he created a record," said Harlin.

In addition to the 2018 Asian Games, the Bali swimmer also made the same preparations when facing the XXX/2019 SEA Games in the Philippines with the result of winning 50m of backstroke gold after posting 25.12 seconds.

Harlin also said that Siman again proved that he was still studying by winning the men's 50m backstroke gold medal at the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia after posting 25.16 seconds.

"Siman is ready and very interested in practicing in America again. Hopefully we will get support from the Ministry of Youth and Sports," added Harlin.

Apart from Siman, PB PRSI also plans to send other Indonesian swimmers, namely gold winners of the 2023 SEA Games women's jersey number Masniari Wolf and Felix Viktor Iberle who won gold number 50m men's breaststroke, as well as other potential young swimmers to train in the United States.

"If the funds are sufficient, at least three swimmers train there. In America in June, July, and August it will be summer and there will be many competitions there. This is the right moment at once because our swimmers can also train matches," concluded Harlin.