Winning Gold, Clarita Swept the Wheel from Football to Basketball
Who would have thought that at first just following along with my sister, now Clarita is making history on her own. The 24-year-old basketball athlete from Bandung is named Clarita Antonio Senjaya. Together with his colleagues, he won a gold medal at the 2023 Cambodian SEA Games.
He said that initially he tried to get involved in football following in his older brother's footsteps.
"From the beginning I couldn't stay silent. Incidentally, I have an older brother who likes to play ball. I took part in playing ball. Then he played basketball, so I took part in playing basketball. I know he stopped, while I continued," explained Clarita in the building KONI, Tuesday 30 May 2023.
He started to join the basketball club in Bandung through Tunas Bandung since he was in 5th grade. However, he was only summoned to take part in the regional championship (Kejurda) in Bandung City and the West Java national championship when he was in 6th grade or 1st junior high school.
"At that time I was about 14 years old," he said.
After that, he also received bronze and silver medals several times. When he joined the 2019 Sea Games senior national team, he won bronze.
"Then at the SEA Games Vietnam got silver. Then, at the SEA Games Cambodia yesterday got gold. But the first time I joined the senior national team was to participate in the 2018 Asian Games," he said.
He said during the SEA Games yesterday, his team competed six times.
"From those six matches, we competed straight away. We were only given a break on the last day. But fortunately we were able to do our best and get the best results," he said.
He said, in the first two games the score was quite tight. Because they are still adjusting to the field and the ring. However, after the third game onwards the Indonesian women's basketball team can start adjusting to the court and ring.
"Everything can be better, the performance is also better. Even though the body feels tighter and sore. But we are assisted by the coaching staff. There are ice beds in each room," he said.
According to him, no opponent is too tough to face. However, if you look at the score, it was quite tight when they competed with Vietnam and Thailand.
"Our toughest opponents are ourselves. But from the score, maybe Vietnam and Thailand, because in the first two games they had a hard time adjusting to all the field conditions," he admitted.
"We also meet Thai players often, have often played together. They also have been preparing for a long time with the same players, so the chemistry is better," he added.
After the SEA Games in Cambodia, Clarita and the team will take part in the SEA Games in Vietnam. However, currently it gets 1-2 months off.
"Then we continue to prepare for the league matches. From there we proceed to the TC SEA Games. We are given a month off, possibly in early July to start preparations for FIBA Asia in Thailand and then the Asian Games," he continued. (din)**
Head of the Bandung City Communication and Informatics Agency
Yayan A. Brilyana
