The potential of Indonesian weightlifting has been again proven with the achievements of female lifter Windy Cantika. We need more coaching in priority sports.Cantika emerged as a new hope for Indonesian weightlifting when she broke three 49-kilogram (kg) world records on Sunday (4/21/2019) at the Asian Weightlifting Championship in Ningbo, China. At just 16 years old, Cantika was the youngest lifter in her weight class and competed against tougher, more experienced senior rivals.
Cantika broke records by lifting 80 kg in the snatch and 97 kg in the clean and jerk for a total lift of 177 kg, surpassing the lifting standards of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) of 77 kg for the snatch and 96 kg for the clean and jerk and a total lift of 172 kg.
While Cantika broke the teen world record, she finished seventh in the Asian championship. China lifter Huo Zhihui ranked first with a total lift of 208 kg (snatch 92 kg, clean and jerk 116 kg). Second and third went to Ri Song Gum (North Korea) and Zhang Rong (China), respectively.
The head coach of the Indonesian weightlifting team, Dirdja Wihardja, has promoted Cantika as the successor to Sri Wahyuni Agustiani, the silver weightlifting medalist in the 2016 Olympics and the 2018 Asian Games. Dirdja expected Cantika to maintain the country’s medal tally at the Asian Games in four years.
Cantika’s achievements again prove for the umpteenth time that weightlifting is one of Indonesia’s flagship sports. We have seen champion weightlifters, both male and female, that have given top performances on the Asian and world stages.
As for male lifters, we have Olympic medalists Eko Yuli Irawan and Triyatno, while female lifters Lisa Rumbewas, Winarni, Sri Indriyani and Sri Wahyuni Agustiani have collected Olympic medals.
Since the Sydney 2000 Olympics, our weightlifters have never missed collecting a medal for the “Red and White”. Indonesia will be looking to Eko Yuli in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics – Eko is in high spirits because he has yet to win an Olympic gold. Weightlifting is one of only three sports that have won Olympics medals for the country. The other two sports are archery and badminton, which have been a mainstay for collecting gold medals.
Weightlifting is one of the sports with a high medal potential at both Asian and world events that Indonesian professional coaching should prioritize.
The Indonesian Weightlifting and Body Building Association (PABBSI) umbrella organization has been making efforts to cultivate potential young lifters, and has also been organizing domestic championships so our athletes can grow and mature. Luckily, this sport has figures like Imron Rosadi who are passionate about weightlifting and cultivating a new generation of lifters.
Above all, however, a clearly outlined strategy is needed to develop the national sports scene. This includes determining priority sports events, depending on the potential of their athletes and their consistency in contributing medals from Asian and world championships.