Muhammad Hanif Wijaya won gold for the Jambi contingent in archery at the Papua National Sports Week (PON) XX after defeating Alviyanto Bagas Prastiadi from Central Java, 6-2, in the men's recurve finals.

The competition was held at the Kampung Harapan sports complex, East Sentani, Jayapura District, Papua, on Monday.

Wijaya contested in the 2016 Brazil Olympics, but he was beaten in the early round by Italian archer Mauro Nespoli.

Meanwhile, Prastiadi had recently competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and was eliminated in the top 32 by Australian archer Taylor Worth.

When contacted after the competition, Wijaya remarked that his gold medal victory was the fruit of his hard work during his time at the training center.

"All our efforts and determination were answered today," he elaborated.
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Meanwhile, Muhammad Rizqi Kusuma from Jakarta managed to secure a bronze medal after defeating Hendra Purnama from Yogyakarta, with a score of 6-4.

Earlier, Chairperson of the National Sports Committee of Indonesia (KONI) Marciano Norman expressed his aspirations of a medal victory for athletes in the archery sports branch at every international competition, primarily the Olympics, quite akin to badminton and weightlifting.

"We are optimistic that in the upcoming Olympics, they would be able to win a medal akin to what we had earlier achieved during the 1988 South Korea Olympics," Norman expounded.

Norman deemed continuing mentorship since an early age as necessary to achieve this goal. PON was also held to serve as a platform for the development of athletes.

To this end, he encouraged the Executive Board of the Indonesian Archery Association (PB Perpani) to make this PON a talent showcase, so that archers that can make Indonesia proud would prove their mettle.
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Pewarta: KR-FL
Editor: Suharto
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