FAJAR.CO.ID — Indonesian badminton athlete Dheva Anrimusthi said the two gold medals he won at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Para Games were a boost to his enthusiasm to continue moving towards the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
“The meaning of these two gold medals for me, apart from my family, makes me even more optimistic for (tournaments) in the future. I want to make Indonesia proud,” said Dheva when met at Binjiang Gymnasium China, Friday.
The first gold medal that Dheva won today came from the men’s singles SU5 after he beat the Malaysian representative and first seed Liek Hou Cheah in a rubber game with a score of 18-21, 21-19, 21-17.
After that, Dheva and Hafizh Briliansyah also won the SU5 men’s doubles final over the Indian pair, Chirag Baretha/Raj Kumar via rubber game 21-11, 19-21, 21-11.
One of the keys to the two wins, continued Dheva, was proper emotional control and appearing loose and carefree.
“It’s more about not panicking, trying to relax, because when we (the ball) turns off a lot by itself, we have to be able to control it. It’s more about trying to build self-confidence,” said Dheva.
This confidence is not without reason, considering that Dheva, during the third edition of the Asian Para Games in Jakarta (2018) and the fourth edition in Hangzhou, brought home a total of five gold medals for Indonesia. Apart from that, he is also a silver medalist at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
After the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Para Games, Dheva will immediately prepare to continue his journey towards the points-winning tournaments for the 2024 Paris Paralympics. One of them is Japan Para Badminton International 2023 which will take place next week.
