Indonesia Fails in Bid for Gold in Archery at 2018 Asian Games
Jakarta. Indonesia failed in its bid for gold in archery at the 2018 Asian Games on Tuesday (28/08).
The government previously set a target of at least one gold medal from the sport, with top athlete Riau Ega Salsabilla having been the main talisman in the nation's team of 16 elite archers.
However, Riau only managed to defeat Ilfat Abdullin of Kazakhstan 6-2 for bronze in the men's individual recurve event, with the gold medal going to current world No. 1 Kim Woo-jin of South Korea, who beat fellow countryman Lee Woo-seok in the final.
The 26-year-old Riau, who saw off Kim in the 2016 Rio Olympics, apologized to the Indonesian people.
Another promising gold-medal prospect, Indonesian archer Diananda Choirunisa, only managed to win silver in the women's individual recurve event after she was defeated by Xinyan Zhang of China in Tuesday's final, watched by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.
South Korea, which is currently a leader in the world of archery, dominated most of the events, held at the Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex in Jakarta, by claiming four of the eight gold medals that were at stake. Taiwan is in second place with two gold medals, followed by China and Japan with one each.
Indonesia's first ever Olympic medal came from archery in 1988, when Lilies Handayani, Nurfitriyana Saiman and Kusuma Wardhani won silver in the women's team event in Seoul. The event inspired the 2016 film "3 Srikandi," which describes the three women's epic saga.
However, the Ministry of Youth and Sports is satisfied with the country's performance after exceeding the initial target of winning at least 16 gold medals at this year's Asian Games.
Indonesia has already captured 24 gold, 19 silver and 29 bronze medals, placing it in fourth place on the medal table.
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