East Java’s Christopher Rungkat and David Susanto secured a gold medal in the men’s tennis doubles at the Papua National Sports Week (PON) XX after defeating West Papua’s Achad Imam Ma’ruf and Tio Juliandi Hutauruk.
Rungkat-Susanto claimed victory with a score of 6-2, 6-3 against Ma’ruf-Hutauruk in the final round of the men’s doubles, held at Sian Soor Tennis Center, courtyard of Jayapura Mayor’s office, on Thursday.
“It is as I and David (Susanto) expected. We came to the field full of confidence that we can win in the final today after winning in the previous rounds,” Rungkat remarked after the match.
Rungkat billed his performance with his partner in Thursday’s match as their finest at Papua PON. Therefore, he said he was quite satisfied with his performance in the final. He said that his opponents, Ma’ruf-Hutauruk, were also quite confident, considering the pair had managed to defeat top players Muhammad Rifqi Fitriadi and Anthony Sutanto in the first round.
“I saw them in the second round and in the next playing quite confidently … And the service from Imam (Ma’ruf) was quite solid today, his presentation was also quite high, and Tio (Hutauruk) was also pretty solid in front of the net,” Rungkat commented.
“I believe that these two young players have potential going forward,” he added.
Concurring with Rungkat, Susanto said that the pair had targeted to win gold in the men’s doubles since the beginning.
“We have expected gold, so we are already confident from the beginning. In terms of performance, we were quite solid from the outset,” he remarked.
Susanto also competed in the men’s singles. However, he had to bow out after losing to West Papua’s Muhammad Althaf Daifulla Albaihaqi in the semi final.
Source: Antara News