Indonesia’s athletes continue to excel at this year’s Asian Games, already blowing far past their previous historical best and even the expectation of President Joko Widodo with a total medal count of 82 as of the time of writing. One of those medals was earned today by 12-year-old skateboarder Bunga Nyimas Cinta,, who earned the bronze in the women’s street skateboarding event with her 3rd place finish.
The pre-teen athlete wore a hijab beneath her helmet as she racked up 19.8 points for her performance at Jakabaring Sport City in Palembang. The gold went to 19-year-old Margielyn Didal from the Philippines while 17-year-old Kaya Isa from Japan nabbed the silver with 25.00 points.
Bunga said she was very grateful for her win and said that the hijab was no hindrance to her performance.
“It’s not hot, really. Because I am Muslim, I use the hijab,” the Bali-based skateboarder told Antara.
Bunga just missed out on medal-ing in the Women’s Skateboarding Stadium event as well, coming in 4th place. But her coach said it was still a very impressive performance considering Bunga was a relative beginner compared to most of her competitors with years more experience.
Bunga is Indonesia’s youngest medalist but not its youngest competitor. That distinction actually goes to her teammate, 9-year-old Aliqqa Noverry, who earned 6th place in the Women’s Skateboarding Street competition today
Meanwhile, Indonesia’s oldest (and richest) athlete, 78-year-old billionaire tycoon Michael Bambang Hartono, earned a bronze medal for his country in the Asian Games bridge competition yesterday.
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