REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesian junior karate team grabbed three gold medals, one silver and three bronzes in 4th Basel Open Masters 2013 in Basel, Switzerland. It was the first time that Indonesia sent junior high school team. This event was followed by 812 karate athletes from 29 countries.

"Alhamdulillah (Praise to God), six junior high school students in this event got medals," Head of Sub-directorate of Institutional and Students Development in Ministry of Education and Culture, Supriono said recently.

The gold medalists are Ni Putu Risma Yanti from Bali, Jihan Sakinah Putri Fadli (West Java) and Irfan Arsal Fansa (West Java). The silver medalists is Ni Putu Risma Yanti (Bali), while bronze medalists are Muhammad Zulfikri Firmansyah (Riau), Wisnu Prasetiaan (Jakarta) and Khodijah Nur Zein (Jakarta).

Supriano said that it was not easy to get medals, because all junior athletes competed with foreign athletes, who had higher body and larger, especially from Switzerland, France and Turkey.

Indonesian government gave prizes to each junior athlete with education savings worth 12.5 million IDR for gold medalist, 10 million IDR for silver medalist and 7.5 million IDR for bronze medalist. Junior karate athletes were selected from an event of National Olympic Sport and Art 2013. They got special training for two weekes before competed the event.

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