Jakarta, Indonesia, August 10, 2023: The Indonesian Olympic Committee is proud of Arif Dwi Pangestu's achievement in securing Indonesia its first ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
It is hoped that this achievement can be a motivation for other athletes in the hunt for quotas to appear in Paris.
"Congratulations to PP Perpani (archery federation) for becoming the first sport to win tickets to the Paris Olympics. NOC Indonesia is proud of this result," said NOC Indonesia President Raja Sapta Oktohari.
Indonesia won its first ticket to the Olympics through Arif's impressive performance in the world championships men’s recurve in Berlin where he finished fourth.
“Arif has shown an extraordinary performance, which we can see firsthand how determined he is to get a ticket to the Paris Olympics.
“Hopefully the results Arif gets can be a motivation for other athletes who are also still struggling, and I also hope that other sports must start being observant with the Olympic qualification tournament because there is less than a year left,” Okto explained.
Contacted from Jakarta, Arif was grateful to be able to bring home Olympic tickets to Indonesia. He is determined to evaluate his performance for bigger targets, especially to appear in Paris 2024.
Arif, 19, competed in Tokyo 2020 and won a gold medal at the 2021 SEA Games in Hanoi.
“I gained valuable experience here because I could compete with senior archers,” he said.
“I was nervous because this was a fight for the first archery ticket, especially since the weather was quite extreme because the wind was very strong and it had rained, too, but I believed I could get an Olympic ticket, and thank God it was successful," said Arif.
"With this result I am not immediately satisfied, instead I will be enthusiastic about training because I am determined to bring medals at the Asian Games and the Paris Olympics," said Arif.