Santia dedicates cycling to late grandmother<\/p>\n
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Hanoi<\/p>\n
\"I'm really happy that I could win a gold medal for the country.
\nI'd love to present the victory to my late grandma,\" said 22-year
\nold cyclist Santia Tri Kusuma of Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Santia, winner of the 30.6-kilometer criterium race earlier in
\nthe games, edged Thailand's Monrudee Chapookam by 0.72 seconds
\nfor a gold medal in the 90-kilometer mass start event on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
She finished in 2 hours, 24 minutes, 46.34 seconds on roads in
\nHoa Binh, 76 km southwest of Hanoi.<\/p>\n
Santia's success in Sunday's Criterium was only a few days shy
\nof the 1,000th day anniversary of her grandmother's death. Even
\nwith her victory, she still felt sad that she could not observe
\nthe 1,000th day ritual, as it is known among the Indonesian
\nMuslim community, as she was busy making her final preparations
\nfor the SEA Games.<\/p>\n
\"I wish I could have gone home two weeks before my departure.
\nBut I couldn't. Grandma was close to me. She knew my sport and
\nalways wished me luck whenever I was about to leave for
\ncompetitions,\" she told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of the
\nIndividual Time Trial (ITT) on Sunday in Bac Ninh province.<\/p>\n
Santia said her brother Priyo Susanto, also a member of the
\ncycling delegation to Hanoi, was the one who had lured her into
\nthe world of cycling.<\/p>\n
She first tried Mountain Bike (MTB), and won a silver medal in
\nthe 1997 SEA Games in Jakarta. Bad luck laid her effort to waste
\nin Brunei the following two years, sidelining her with a flat
\ntire.<\/p>\n
She switched from MTB to track riding, and in her first SEA
\nGames in the event, she bagged a gold medal in Kuala Lumpur. She
\nkept her winning form in the Elimination event in Thailand's
\nAsian Championships in 2002, and at the 2002 Asian Games in
\nBusan, she claimed a bronze.<\/p>\n
\"I'm curious about continuing to a higher level. My obsession
\nis to make it to the Olympics,\" said the Malang-born cyclist.<\/p>\n
Looking ahead at possible sporting careers when she retires as
\nan athlete, Santia said she would like to coach.<\/p>\n
\"I want to help Indonesian cycling deliver a better
\nperformance in the future.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/santia-dedicates-cycling-to-late-grandmother-1447893297",
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