Hangzhou, Indonesianpost.com – Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi won a gold medal in the women’s speed climbing event at the 19th Asian Games in Shaoxing, China, on Tuesday, while her teammate, Rajiah Sallsabillah, secured bronze for Indonesia.
Dewi clocked 6.364 seconds in the final, taking down China’s Deng Lijuan, who recorded a time of 6.435 seconds.
Earlier, Sallsabillah won bronze with a time of 6.879 seconds after beating another Chinese climber, Niu Di, who suffered an early fall in the bronze-medal final.
Before going into the final round, Dewi broke the Asian Games record with a time of 6.600 seconds in the qualifying round.
Her achievement eclipsed the previous record of 7.61 seconds set by another Indonesian climber, Aries Susanti Rahayu, during the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta-Palembang.
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However, Indonesia missed out on gold in the men’s speed event. Despite having two of the fastest climbers in the world, Veddriq Leonardo and Kiromal Katibin, the Indonesian men’s speed climbing team fell short of winning gold at the 2022 Asian Games.
The current world record holder Leonardo was able to salvage some pride by winning a bronze medal and setting a new Asian Games record in the third-place match, defeating China’s Wu Peng in 4.955 seconds.
Leonardo was fortunate to make it to the third-place match, as he slipped early in the round of 16.
Iran’s Reza Ali Pour Shenazandi scaled the wall in the final in 5.302 seconds to win gold, while China’s Long Jinbao took silver as he fell early.