Paris 2024, a step towards preparing LA28 Paralympics for Indonesian para archers
The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games weren’t just about winning medals. Memories were made, lessons were learnt, and many moments of pride were taken back home.
The Indonesian archers were among the ones who might not have had any medal counts from Paris, but they took back home valuable assets from the Games. They were richer by a lot of experience and big learnings riding on which they aim to shine with medals in the next four years.
This was the first time Indonesia competed in archery at the Paralympics, and it qualified not just one but five athletes across the compound and recurve events. The journey to the Games took longer than expected, despite the discipline having been introduced to the South East Asian nation in 2011.
The reasons were many. Para archery was still not a popular sport in the country and the equipment for the sport was very expensive.
It was the 2018 Asian Para Games held in Jakarta that spurred the development of para archery in Indonesia.
“Youngsters from various provinces showed interest in playing the sport,” said coach Idya Putra Harjianto, who has been training the team for around two years.
The results started showing few years later at the 2022 Asian Para Games in Hangzhou where archers won two bronze medals. The 2023 World Archery Para Championships in Pilsen were another step towards their dreams as they secured their maiden Paralympic spots.
And Paris was about showing a lot of promise of future Paralympic Champions in the making.
Coach Harjianto said the most important learning from Paris was adaptation.
“These Games were about experience, adaptation and going home to overcome the drawbacks."
“They [the archers] learnt how to adapt to different weather conditions, how to deal with the pressure, build a mentality before big matches and bring out their best under this kind of pressure.”
“They want to train more to improve their level of game,” he added.
Setiawan Setiawan and Wahyu Retno Wulandari, who teamed up for the first time in the recurve mixed doubles event, admitted the keenness of the players to train more and getting ready for LA28.
The pair has impressed the Parisian crowd with their skills and fighting spirit under heavy rain, only to exit in the quarterfinals. They returned home with head held high.
For the two, it’s a best result from a maiden Paralympic Games and their coach was proud of the whole team’s show.
He also described as “unfortunate” the fact that Indonesia’s top archer Ken Swagumilang, a bronze medallist at the latest Asian Para Games, suffered early exits in the compound men’s individual and mixed team events.
But now, it’s just about getting better and better.
Wulandari, who is also a bronze medallist from Hangzhou 2022, admitted she was anxious initially to compete on such a big stage [in Paris].
“There’s lot of pressure in the Paralympics; it’s more competitive than any other championships,” the archer from the province of West Java went on to talk about how special the experience was competing at the Paralympics.
“All the top ranked players were there. Before the matches, I didn’t think we will make it to the elimination round, but God has other plans.”
“Now, it’s about more and more training in the preparation for Los Angeles.”
Setiawan was more analytical on his first Paralympic experience, adding the experience was “amazing”.
“We feel lucky to have made it to the quarterfinals, hit good scores, as our scores were low in training," said the 23-year-old, who was part of the gold medal winning team at the 2019 Asian Para Archery Championships in Bangkok.
The drive is already evident among the first-timer Indonesian para archers and now steps must be taken to achieve the long-awaited goals.
“We feel confident. The journey has just began and we will need to train hard for the LA 2028 Paralympics.”
“Where there is a will, there is a way,” concluded Setiawan.
