The story of Saiful Rizal, who won 3 medals at the 2021 SEA Games, from being scolded by his father to getting a home page all

LUMAJANG, KOMPAS.com – Another resident of Lumajang Regency, East Java, made the national anthem Indonesia Raya echoed in the international arena.

He is Syaiful Rizal, a resident of Sumberurip Village, Pronojiwo District, Lumajang Regency.

Amazingly, Rizal was able to win three medals at the same time at the 2021 SEA Games in Vietnam in the sport of sepak takraw.

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The three medals that were brought home were a gold medal in the men’s Double event, a silver medal in the Quadrant number, and a bronze medal in the men’s team event.

Rizal’s arrival to Lumajang was welcomed by hundreds of residents. He was paraded to the Arya Wiraraja Pendopo.

Along the way, residents lined up while waving red and white flags and shouting the name of Pronojiwo’s real son.

Who would have thought, the success he achieved was not as smooth as imagined. He went through steep paths and various obstacles to get to where he is now.

Little Rizal

Rizal was born in a village at the foot of Mount Semeru which has a tradition of playing sepak takraw. His passion for playing sepak takraw began when he was in the 2nd grade of elementary school.

At that time, no one taught him to play sepak takraw. Little Rizal used to practice alone by kicking the ball against the wall of his house.

Not infrequently he had to get angry with his father for disturbing his father’s lunch break.

“I used to often chase my father, I got angry all the time, Zal don’t play football here (Zal don’t play football here),” said Saiful Rizal at the Arya Wiraraja Lumajang Hall, Thursday (26/5/2022).

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Even so, Rizal never gave up and continued to practice on the simple sepak takraw field next to his house.

Since elementary school, several times he participated in sepak takraw tournaments in Lumajang. At that time, luck was not on his side.

“The point is that I never won in competitions in Lumajang, once when I was in junior high school, I was included in a class where elementary school children competed because I was small, but I still lost,” he said.

His ability to play sepak takraw began to improve when he entered high school. Rizal studies at SMANOR, Sidoarjo Regency.

From there, achievement after achievement keeps coming. Starting from the Papua PON gold medal, the 2018 Asian Games gold medal, the Philippines 2019 SEA Games gold medal, and most recently the 2021 Vietnam SEA Games gold medal.

Also read: Bandung City Government Gives Kadeudeuh Money to Vietnam SEA Games Medal Winning Athletes

Various reward was given to him. After getting a gold medal at the Asian Games, Rizal was rewarded as a civil servant at the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

This time, it was the Lumajang Regency Government’s turn to give a house unit as a gift for the son of his region who had made Indonesia proud.

“We will give a house to Rizal, now there are so many houses, we also gave the winner yesterday,” said Lumajang Regent Thoriqul Haq.

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