UNAIR NEWS – The National Student Sports Invitational Championship is a national-level sports competition that is held as a multi-event every two years. This year, some of the sports contested include accuracy in archery, accuracy in petanque, wrestling, and Shorinji Kempo martial arts.
The Shorinji Kempo Student Activity Unit (UKM) of Universitas Airlangga participated in the event organized by the Indonesian Student Sports Development Agency (BAPOMI) of DKI Jakarta Province. This championship involved the parent organization of the Shorinji Kempo in Indonesia, the Shorinji Kempo Brotherhood of Indonesia (PERKEMI).
This championship was held from September 29 to October 1, 2023, at the Sports building on the 3rd floor of Jakarta State University. During this event, the Student Activity Unit delegation participated in several categories, including group Embu, women pair Embu Kyu II/I, woman Randori weight category 50 kg, and woman Randori weight category 55 kg.
Shorinji Kempo Student Activity Unit, which consisted of Lutviana Rachmawati from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Destya Putri Dwi Wardhani from the Faculty of Humanities, Oxy Setyo Hapsari from the Faculty of Science and Technology, and Dinna Maretha Dwizura from the Faculty of Psychology, successfully bagged home third place in group Embu category. The achievement is the result of their hard work.
Dinna stated that the group embu is one of the contested categories in Shorinji Kempo. “There are two types of competitions: free-style sparring or randori and embu, a choreographed fight. We joined the group embu, paired embu, woman randori for the weight class of 50 kg, and woman randori for the weight class of 55 kg,” the psychology student said.
The determination to win
Their motivation to join the championship is to achieve excellence and bring glory to Universitas Airlangga in Shorinji Kempo martial arts. The ingrained determination drove the team to achieve the victory.
The team did not encounter any significant obstacles in this championship. However, one of the challenges during training was the sudden schedule changes. One of the team members still had to participate in the major orientation program.
The team received information about this championship on short notice in early September. “We only had about three weeks to practice,” Dinna said.
They managed time for studying and practicing. Academic responsibilities, especially in completing coursework assignments, remained their top priority. Meanwhile, the practice session was adjusted according to the schedules of each member.
“We did physical exercise every day, even at different times. We were all motivated to achieve victory within ourselves,” she said.
The team expressed that their victory wouldn’t have been possible without the roles of their official and manager, Melinda Rahma Puspa and Aisyah Nurillah from the Faculty of Humanities. “We thank them for handling the administration, accommodations, and keeping us disciplined to win,” she said.
Author: Meli Nor Arista
Editor: Feri Fenoria
