Hanifan Yudani Kusumah (born 25 October 1997) is an Indonesian pencak silat practitioner. He won a gold medal in the 2018 Asian Games, after previously winning a bronze medal in the 2017 SEA Games.
Hanifan was born in Bandung, West Java on 25 October 1997. His father Dani Wisnu, who was also a silat practitioner and was part of the national-level selection in 2005, had begun training him in pencak silat when he was in second grade of elementary school. Hanifan's mother Dewi Yanti Kosasih was also a silat practitioner who had participated in international competitions. Later on, Hanifan joined a silat academy, named "Perguruan Silat Tadjimalela".[3][4]
He first participated in competitions in 2010, when he won a silver medal in a local competition between Tadjimalela students.[5] During the Pekan Olahraga Nasional event on 2016, Hanifan won a gold medal.[6] Later that year, Hanifan won a silat world championship in Denpasar.[7]
In 2017, Hanifan also won a gold medal in the Belgium Open 2017 tournament.[8] Later that year, during the 2017 SEA Games, Hanifan won a bronze medal.[9] He then won a silver medal in the 2019 SEA Games.[10]
Asian Games
Hanifan was part of the Indonesian contingent in the 2018 Asian Games, where he was in the C (55–60 kg) weight class. On August 29, he defeated Vietnamese athlete Nguyễn Thái Linh 3–2 to win gold, the 29th for the contingent and the 13th for Indonesia from the sport.[11]
After receiving the gold medal, Hanifan headed to the VIP section where President of IndonesiaJoko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto, as the head of Indonesia's Pencak Silat Association, were present. Following a normal handshake with vice president Jusuf Kalla, Hanifan embraced both Widodo and Prabowo in a hug while draped by the Indonesian flag, eliciting cheers from the audience. Widodo and Prabowo were set to compete in the 2019 presidential election, and the hug was seen as a symbol of unity.[12][13] An image of the occasion later posted to Widodo's Instagram account was liked over 1 million times,[14] and the image also became a trending topic on Twitter.[3]
He was Indonesia's flagbearer during the games' closing ceremony.[15] Shortly after the Asian Games, Hanifan married fellow Indonesian pencak silat athlete Pipiet Kamelia, with Sports and Youth Minister Imam Nahrawi as witness.[16]
