PAPUA – Athletes from the Southwest Papua contingent continued to show their best performance on the second day of the kempo sport at the 2024 Aceh-North Sumatra National Sports Week (PON) XXI. One of the standouts is Stevenly Rantung who competes in the 70+ kg class.
Stevenly made it to the semifinals after defeating Adam Pengesti Bone from Jambi Province with two crushing kicks in two minutes. The win sends Stevenly to the semifinals, where he will meet Irwanto Susanto from East Nusa Tenggara.
Southwest Papua’s kempo head coach, Marcelino Pontoh, expressed confidence that Stevenly Rantung has a great chance of winning the gold medal. Although Stevenly has confirmed the bronze medal, the main target is to achieve the highest achievement.
Marcelino revealed, besides Stevenly, two other athletes namely, Simson Sagrim and Ronaldo Pontoh, also had the opportunity to advance to the semifinals on the third day of the match.
Marcelino said that although Ronaldo lost in the preliminary round against Muhammad Rizky Fauzia from DKI Jakarta, he still has one more chance. Meanwhile, Samson Sagrim is also still fighting after winning his battle against Imam Budi Muslim Wibawa from West Nusa Tenggara.
Two other athletes, Rizky Tiara Ramadhani and Michael Regar, were stopped in the preliminary round. Despite this, Marcelino continues to encourage his team to maintain the good name of Southwest Papua in this national event.
