Rags-to-riches sprinter buoys 2018 Asian Games hosts
JAKARTA: Teen sprinter Lalu Zohri has given Indonesia an unexpected confidence boost as the Asian Games hosts look to pull off their first top-10 medals finish in decades.
Zohri, 18, won the hearts of Indonesians last month with a shock 100- metres victory over two favoured American rivals at the world junior championships in Finland.
It was the first medal for an Indonesian athlete at the under20 tournament and capped a heady rise for Zohri, who was raised in a bamboo shack and trained barefoot on the beach as a youngster.
Now, Zohri is facing his biggest test as he competes against a field of older and faster athletes at the world’s second- largest multisports event.
“My goal is to give my best for Indonesia,” Zohri, who clocked 10.18sec to win world gold, said after a training session in Jakarta. “But I’m not targeting a medal in the 100 metres.”
Still, his unlikely rise has given Indonesia a glimmer of hope that it too can manage a surprise showing – and overcome a history of middling performances at international tournaments.
Badminton, weight li fting, Indonesian martial art pencak silat and even paragliding are all potential medal sports for the hosts at the August 18September 2 Games in Jakarta and Palembang.
Despite a population of more than 260 mi l lion, Indonesia frequently trails smaller Southeast Asian nations like Malaysia and Thailand at the Asian Games.
Indonesia has ranked no better than 13th at the past four Asiads and last placed in the top 10 in 1990. They were 17th at the 2014 Games in Incheon.
Although the Asian Games allow the host nation to tailor the sporting programme to suit its strengths, some remain sceptical that Indonesia can finish in the top 10.
“Last year we had a very poor performance at the Southeast
My goal is to give my best for Indonesia. But I’m not targeting a medal in the 100 metres. Lalu Zohri, Indonesian sprinter
Asian Games with the same athletes, so I think it is really difficult to achieve,” sports analyst Fritz Simanjuntak told AFP.
The country ranked fifth at the Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur last year behind hosts Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore.
Indonesia’s poor results at multisport events can be explained by a dearth of youth development programmes, according to Simanjuntak, who was a member of the Indonesian Olympic Committee ( IOC) between 19952004.
“We don’t have a good structure for athlete development in Indonesia,” he said. “The government needs to focus on the community level and the school level.”
Even so, many Indonesian athletes will be hell-bent on proving they’re gold medal-worthy in front of passionate home crowds.
Paragliding – along with bridge and pencak silat – will feature for the first time in the Asian Games, and there are sky- high expectations for Indonesia’s team, which includes four top-10 fliers in both the men’s and women’s accuracy discipline.
Hening Paradigma, who is aiming for gold in the men’s accuracy and cross country events, said the Indonesian team has been training for a year-and-a-half.
“The possibi lity of gold is quite high for accuracy and for cross country we have a 50/ 50 chance,” said Paradigma, who is ranked world number seven for paragliding accuracy.
“We know Korea and Japan are more experienced... but we will do our best to achieve a gold medal.” — AFP