Wushu fighter Susyana owes it to father for SEA Games laurel
KUALA LUMPUR (JP): The well-known idiom "Like father like son" has found a new pretext for female wushu fighter Susyana, who attributes part of her success at the Kuala Lumpur 2001 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games to her childhood training imposed on her by her father, former national athlete in the sport, Rahmat Setiadi.
Susyana was triumphant in the gunshu (stick) event on Monday to add to the bronze medal she took in daoshu (saber) a day before.
It is quite an outstanding achievement considering the fact Susyana was making her debut at the region's biennial multisports event. Born in Jakarta on Nov. 19, 1984, Susyana was trained by her father Rahmat, who competed in the spear event at the 1993 Games.
"Because I didn't go to any wushu school, my father really trained me hard," she told The Jakarta Post from Penang via the phone.
The Chinese martial art wushu competition is being held at the PISA Indoor Stadium on Penang Island, some 300 kilometers north of here.
"As I grew older, I understood that such rigorous training was fundamental in a bid to achieve good results. Since then, I just trained by myself without any hesitation," she recollected.
The Indonesian Wushu Association set up a centralized training camp in Medan, North Sumatra, in February to prepare its SEA Games-bound athletes and hired two Chinese coaches, Ye Song Xian and Cai Li Juan.
"Both coaches applied strict discipline the same way they had done in China. They also implemented a tough physical training regime to improve our fitness," said Susyana.
She admitted that initially she found it difficult to adjust herself to the training camp, especially because she had to live so far away from home in Jakarta.
All athletes went through three stages of selection before being named on the SEA Games squad.
Susyana, the second of three siblings, is a student of Dharmajaya Senior High School in West Jakarta. During the training program the wushu association provided teachers to help athletes keep up with their schooling commitments.
When asked about her next target, Susyana said she was preparing for the Pusan 2002 Asian Games and Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
"All the athletes have been notified that there will be another training center for the Pusan Asiad and long-term preparation for the Beijing Olympiad.
"I have to train harder because those competitions will be tighter. I must keep improving myself," she added.
Susyana grabbed three gold medals at the 2000 National Games (PON) in changquan (bare fist), daoshu and gunshu events. She chalked up her best international achievement at the 1999 Malaysian Open when she won the gold in her favorite gunshu and the bronze in daoshu.
"Winning the SEA Games gold medal is such a joyful experience for me after I managed to only finish fifth at the Asian Championships in Vietnam last November," said Susyana.
"It's a kind of sweet revenge because most of those participating in the Asian event came to Kuala Lumpur." (nvn)