MEDAN – Sukraj Singh, the legendary shot put athlete from North Sumatra, expressed his gratitude and pride in front of journalists covering the XXI/2024 National Games in Aceh-North Sumatra in Medan on Monday (16/9). He was grateful that his shot put record at the XV/2000 National Games in Surabaya was broken at the XXI/2024 National Games in North Sumatra. He proudly announced that the record breaker was a North Sumatran athlete, Muhammad Syahrial Bakti.
Sukraj mentioned that he set the shot put record 23 years ago with a distance of 16.06 meters, which stood for 23 years. He expressed great pride that his protege, Syahrial, broke the record with a throw of 16.68 meters.
Sukraj trained Syahrial and several other athletes at the Student Sports Education and Training Center (PPLP) in Medan. He has been coaching Syahrial since the third grade of junior high school seven years ago.
As a coach and mentor, Sukraj hopes that Syahrial can achieve even higher and better performances. He wishes for Syahrial to break the national record held by Sukraj himself, which stands at 16.87 meters.
Sukraj expressed his gratitude that North Sumatra and Aceh were chosen as the hosts for the XXI/2024 National Games. As hosts, Aceh and North Sumatra have built various new sports facilities and supporting infrastructure.
One of the things he is grateful for is the construction of the North Sumatra Sport Center Athletic Main Stadium at Deli Serdang Regency. This stadium is built within a new sports complex spanning 300 hectares.
He hopes that the construction of these new sports facilities will serve as a catalyst to improve the performance of athletes from North Sumatra, especially in the sport of athletics. He explained that one of the obstacles in developing talented athletes in North Sumatra is the lack of sports facilities.
For example, there are only two adequate shot put training fields, one at PPLP and another at the field owned by the State University of Medan (Unimed). The PPLP field faces scheduling constraints due to high demand, while the Unimed field is sometimes used for student soccer training.
Despite the limited facilities, Sukraj sees commitment as a key issue in fostering successful athletes in North Sumatra. Sometimes, athletes have to balance their studies with their training schedules.
Therefore, Sukraj advises athletes to be more committed and focused if they want to be successful athletes. In addition, discipline in training is a non-negotiable requirement.
Now, North Sumatra has a world-class Athletic Main Stadium comparable to the Senayan Main Stadium. Sukraj hopes that in the future, many successful track and field athletes from North Sumatra will emerge at the national and international level. ***