Soleh Sundava: Boxing to Suppress Stigma

KOMPAS/CORNELIUS HELMY HERLAMBANG

Soleh Sundava

He had a spine-chilling nickname when he was a professional boxer: Soleh Sundava: the “silent assassin”. Without much talk, he was able to knock out his opponents in the ring. Now, his life is still full of surprises. Through sports, Soleh Sundava never stops trying to suppress the stigma against marginalized people.

He is still light on his toes while demonstrating basic boxing moves. At 47, Soleh has maintained his agility. His eyes also remain sharp when throwing punches.

“Boxing is not just about punches, but also the movement of your feet. There is no strong hit without the right steps,” Soleh told four of his students at a recreation class at Rumah Cemara Boxing Camp Bandung (RCBC) on Tuesday (10/09/2018).

For the past four years, Soleh has been head coach at RCBC. The boxing training center is managed by Rumah Cemara, an NGO that aims to help former drug addicts and people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Bandung, West Java. Given this background, the training at RCBC was divided into three programs. Aside from recreation, there are therapeutic classes for ex-addicts and PLWHA and the athletes.

Through the three different programs, Soleh said, he was not only able share boxing techniques but also actively raise awareness about the great danger of narcotics and drugs as well as the potential HIV transmission. Boxing has the potential to trigger endorphins, the hormone that also triggers the high sensation when consuming drugs.

Soleh also often corrects misinformation about HIV transmission. The potential for HIV transmission occurs when using a syringe or engaging in unprotected sex, rather than through sweat while boxing. “I have proven it,” he said.

Slowly, RCBC inspires people. Not only frequented by former addicts or PLWHA, many people also come to practice together. Until now there were 50 people taking turns practicing there. They do not hesitate to practice with former narcotics addicts and PLWHA.

The class at the training center is also clean and bright. In addition to participating in national and regional championships, RCBC boxers also compete abroad. They are, for example, Jundullah Muhamad Fauzan and Resnu Sundava, who competed at the Xanana Gusmao Gold Belt International Championship in East Timor in 2015. Fauzan won the 55 kilogram category while Resnu became the best in the 49 kg class.

“After the match, I was offered to coach in Timor Leste. Their representatives even came to Bandung offering a very high pay. However, I refused because I wanted to continue at RCBC. Here we are like family,” Soleh said.

Asia Pacific Champion

Soleh\'s encounter with boxing in 1988 was unexpected. Good at fighting since high school, he accepted the offer of his partner to practice boxing at one of the boxing training center in Bandung. However, his experience fighting on the street was unable to save him in the ring. Only doing practice for a week, eventually he was defeated by a senior boxer.

Later, his fighting spirit was known by two boxing coaches, Dedi Surapati and Asep R Suganda. Incidentally, they are both starting a new gym, Red Cobra. With limited facilities, Soleh became their first student. There, he improved the left jab and strengthened his double

cover, which would later be his main strength.

"About three months later, I fought again with the boxer who beat me before. After training, it was my turn to win,” he said.

Since then, Soleh has been regularly taking part in amateur competitions. He forgot how many matches he has competed in. But, surely he won most of the matches. Becoming dominant at the amateur level, Soleh rose to become a professional boxer in 1996.

His talent did not fade in the higher class. The climax was in the competition for the Pan Asian Boxing Association featherweight (PABA), the Asia Pacific regional boxing body, in Jakarta, on Aug. 31, 1999. Soleh defeated South Korean boxer Park Yong-woon. He remained the best boxer for two years. During this time, he was superior to his challengers from Kazakhstan, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand to the Philippines.

“Almost all challengers say the match will not run until the last round. Their predictions are correct, but I was the one who defeated them,” he said.

Eventually, he lost the champion belt at the age of 30. In a Sept. 11, 2011 match in Jember, East Java, he was defeated by Indonesian boxer Chris John, who was only 22 years old at the time.

Soleh had several times requested another match, but always failed to do so. Both of them were later in different categories after Soleh moved to the lightweight class before retiring in 2004. "I have to be honest with myself. This body may still want to fight, but the desire to do boxing is not as big as before,” he said.

After retiring, Soleh tried to continue living without boxing. However, fate would not allow him to do so. His business failed because he was cheated by a business partner. He once served as a contractor and security officer, but he could not stand the corrupt practices in his place

of work. Until finally he returned to boxing. In 2012, he became a personal boxing trainer at Ksatria Gym Bandung.

Loyal

There, he first met the late Ginan Koesmayadi, one of the founders of Rumah Cemara. At that time, Ginan was looking for a personal trainer for boxing. "From the beginning, he said he was HIV positive. Having little knowledge about HIV/AIDS, I didn’t mind [working with him]. Honestly, I was amazed by his courage to be open,” said Soleh, who was Ginan\'s coach for two months.

After that, Soleh did not meet Ginan for a long time. It was only in 2014 that Ginan called him telling that Rumah Cemara had facilities including the ring. Ginan asked Soleh to become head coach. Soleh agreed when he knew that RCBC aimed particularly to suppress the stigma against marginalized people.

“I used to be stigmatized when I used to fight in the streets. In front of me, people are so nice, but in behind my back, they think I\'m just garbage, "he said.

Soleh has a unique way of introducing the techniques to his students. He combines boxing training methods with table tennis games.

“Like in boxing, table tennis requires strong and agile foot support. Table tennis athletes are also required to make a surprise attack. The difference is, there are no strikes that land on the head or body in table tennis,” he said.

In the past year, Soleh was assigned to coach disabled table tennis athletes. Although there was an offer for him to become a legislative candidate from a political party, he was steadfast in accompanying the table tennis team at the 2018 West Java Regional Paralympic Week in Bogor, November.

"Some disabled athletes have similar stories like the ex-addicts and the PLWHA. They are stigmatized because of the limitations of life. I want to encourage them to have high spirits," he said.

Soleh Sundava

Born: Bandung, July 18, 1971

Wife Euis Kartika, 42

Education: SMA Multazam Bandung high school (1990)