181 total views
An interesting thing happened after President Joko Widodo inaugurated the Ciawi Dam, Bogor Regency, West Java Province, on Friday, December 23 2022. At that time, the Minister of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Basuki Hadimuljono invited the President to go to a green field.
It turned out that the 20 meter long and 15 meter wide field was a gateball sports field. The PUPR Minister who is also the General Chairperson of the Entrepreneurial Board (PB) of the All Indonesian Gateball Association (Pergatsi) then invited West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil to try out a sport similar to golf.
When Ridwan Kamil hit the ball with a hammer-shaped stick for the first time, the ball went straight into the goal. Seeing this, President Jokowi also asked if Ridwan Kamil often played golf.
“Wow, do you often play golf?” asked the President.
“No sir, coincidence. In fact, I don’t play golf,” said Ridwan Kamil.
“Try it one more time, if you enter again, it means you are really good at it. If you don’t enter, it’s a coincidence,” said the President, accompanied by the laughter of those present.
For information, gateball is a modification of the sport of croquet through the innovation of a Japanese citizen named Suzuki Kazunobu in 1947. Gateball can be played in teams (5 people), threes, doubles or singles.
Team gateball is played by two teams. The first team holds odd balls (1,3,5,7,9), while the second team holds even balls (2,4,6,8,10). The first team hits the ball first, followed by the second team in order of the ball number. The ball is hit through 3 goals (wickets 1 to 3) and ends the game when it hits goal-pole. The winner is determined by the total number of points obtained during 30 minutes of game time.
Bogor, 23 December 2022
Press, Media and Information Bureau of the Presidential Secretariat
