UGM students made achievements not only academically. This time those joining Diving Unit succeeded to become the grand champion in Indonesian students fin swimming championship. The competition was held from 7-8 May at Hang Tuah University, Surabaya. Meanwhile, the second position is occupied by the diving team of Petra Catholic University, Surabaya. The championship was followed by 55 participants from several universities in Indonesia, namely Surabaya Institute of Technology (ITS), Diponegoro University, Trunojoyo University, Petra Catholic University, Hang Tuah University and UGM.
UGM Diving Team managed to become the overall champion with 4 gold medals. Three medals were presented by Respaty Yudha Putranto (Faculty of Biology) in fin swimming 50 meters, 100 meters, 200 meters category. Another gold medal in the relay number was obtained by a team consisting of M. Akbar (Diploma of Electrical Engineering), M. Nur Hafid (Faculty of Animal Sciences), Respaty Yudha Putranto (Faculty of Biology), and Ronggo Rian Wicaksono (Faculty of Pharmacy).
Budi, UGM Diving Team Manager, talking at UGM Stana Parahita, Wednesday (18/5), mentioned that in the championship, Respaty Yudha won gold medals in the 50 meters category with a record of 24 seconds, 100 meters in 59 seconds, and 200 meters in 2 minutes 6 seconds. Meanwhile in the relay race, gold medal was successfully gained with a record of 2 minutes 20 seconds.
In this championship, UGM team sent 7 people, consisting of 2 women divers, 4 men divers, and 1 manager. "Unlike the men’s team, the women team this time has not managed to gain medals for UGM," said Budi.
Respaty Yudha said it was not easy to give victory for his team. During the game, UGM team faced tough opponents. "One of the toughest opponents is Petra University. Most individuals who were competing are professional athletes who have often participated in various championships, such as PON, while our own are from diving unit at the university," he said.
Yudha Respaty further said that the greatest difficulty in the championship is to maintain swimming aids, such as fin/frog legs, mask, and snorkel, while swimming. "In the championship we were forced to compete with speed while maintaining swimming aids. If one of these tools fall, we will immediately be disqualified. That’s the biggest challenge," he explained.
UGM Diving Unit was established on August 8, 1987. This unit is an organization of student activities that work not only in sports, but also research and conservation. In addition to regular exercise every week, the diving unit routinely holds various other activities, such as underwater photography, coral reef monitoring, and underwater photography exhibition.