Taekwondo UAD Wins Prestigious Achievement

Taekwondo Team (UAD) of Universitas Ahmad Dahlan (UAD) managed to win some achievements at UPN Surabaya Rector Cup and Yogyakarta Mayor Cup Championships. UPN Surabaya Rector Cup Championship III took place from Sunday to Tuesday (23-26/9/2018), and the Yogyakarta Mayor Cup took place from Friday to Sunday (21-23 / 9/2018).

In the UPN Surabaya Rector Cup Championship, the Taekwondo Team of UAD won 9 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals. Meanwhile, in the Mayor Cup Championship, the team won 7 gold, 5 silver and 6 bronze medals. Besides, Sambeum Kholid, a coach from UAD, was named the favorite coach.

On Friday (28/9/2018), at UAD campus I on Jln, Kapas 9, Semaki, Yogyakarta, the medals obained from the two championships were handed over by the Head of Taekwondo Student Activity Unit (UKM), Fitriadi Nur Al Fakhri to UAD. Symbolically, the medals were accepted by Dr. Dedi Pramono, M.Hum., the Head of Bureau of Student and Alumni Affairs (Bimawa) and was witnessed by the coach of UKM Taekwondo, Dr. Hadi Suyono, M.Psi. and Danang Sukantar, M.Pd., the Head of Student Development Division of UAD Bimawa.

Dedi stated that he was proud that there were new students who exceled in these two championships and this should be appreciated because it was a pride for UAD. The achievements made by new students are certainly not the result of UAD coaching, but the result of their continuous training when they are still in junior or senior high school.

"Very rarely are achievements achieved when they are already university students. Therefore, UAD was adviced by the National Sports Committee of Indonesia (KONI) to recruit students who already had achievements. If you start training students when they are already at the university, the results can only be seen during the seventh semester or when they have finished their studies," he explained.

Meanwhile, the Taekwondo coach, Hadi Suyono said that UAD provided facilities for students to make achievements. One of them is through Taekwondo UKM. Following this achievement, UKM will keep trying to improve student soft skills. It is because, in Taekwondo, students are trained to fight hard and compete. The next objective for the team is to take part in international championships.

On the other hand, Fitriadi Nur Al Fikri revealed that the preparations for the two championships were held from December 2017 to August 2018. Exercises were carried out five times a week or even seven days a week.

This achievement is certainly beneficial for students and UAD. For students, the achievement will contribute to the companion certificate (SKPI). For UAD, it can improve the ranking of the university in the ranking conducted by the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education (Kemenristekdikti). In 2017, UAD was ranked 232, and in 2018 it is ranked 58th. In 2019, UAD is targetted to be in the top 25. (ard)