Andri Irawan - Indonesia's SEA Games Petanque Gold Medalist | Player Profile

Andri Irawan - Quick Facts

Indonesia's First SEA Games Petanque Gold

Andri Irawan is the Indonesian petanque player who won his country's first-ever SEA Games gold medal in petanque. At the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand, he won the men's singles title, defeating Laos's Bountamy Southammavong 13-7 in the final at Valaya Alongkorn Rajabhat University in Pathum Thani on 10 December 2025. Some Indonesian reports called it the country's first petanque gold "since 2011", but the SEA Games medal tables show Indonesia won no petanque medals at all at the 2011 edition it hosted, nor at the 2019 or 2023 editions.

The win was widely reported in Indonesian media as an upset. Coverage in the run-up to the tournament described Irawan as facing genuine doubt: he had limited recent exposure on the international circuit, and hosts Thailand, along with Vietnam, Laos and Malaysia, were considered the favorites in men's singles. He came through the draw regardless, and afterward thanked Indonesian supporters directly: "Terima kasih untuk semua warga Indonesia yang sudah mendukung kami, Tim Petanque Indonesia, dan bisa berhasil meraih satu emas" ("Thank you to everyone in Indonesia who supported us, the Indonesian Petanque Team, in being able to win one gold").

Career Overview

Irawan represents DKI Jakarta, the Jakarta Special Capital Region, and trains with backing from KONI Jakarta, the Jakarta chapter of Indonesia's National Sports Committee. His first major domestic breakthrough came just over a year before his SEA Games gold, at PON XXI 2024 (the 21st Pekan Olahraga Nasional, Indonesia's National Games), held at Universitas Syiah Kuala's Sport Center in Banda Aceh. There, on 13 September 2024, he won the men's singles gold medal, beating East Java's Dhoni Wahyu Krisbiantoro 13-5 - DKI Jakarta's first-ever petanque gold medal at a PON. Irawan described the final as a measure of "revenge," having lost to the same opponent at the 2024 ASEAN University Games in Surabaya-Malang, and called the PON win the payoff for "years of training."

Irawan's 2025 gold did not build on a run of recent Indonesian success at the Games: Indonesia won no petanque medals at the 2019 edition in the Philippines or the 2023 edition in Cambodia, and Indonesian press noted that the national petanque squad had missed two SEA Games editions before returning in 2025. That background makes his win as much a breakthrough for the discipline nationally as an individual one.

His 2025 SEA Games gold was part of a six-medal haul for Indonesia's petanque squad at that edition (1 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze). Alongside his individual title, Indonesia won silver from Topan Satria in men's individual precision shooting, silver in men's triples (Muhammad Muhlis Harliza, Bagas Syarief Hidayat and Dhoni Wahyu Krisbiantoro), and bronze medals in women's precision shooting (Anni Saputri Nijamudin), women's singles (Anjani Dwi Apriliah), and mixed triples (Andreas Saputra Suwajianto, Heriyanto and Warda Asifa). FOPI chair Nurhasan called the six-medal total, which exceeded the federation's own target, evidence of the sport's growing depth in Indonesia.

Playing Style

Public reporting on Irawan's game centers on his composure rather than a single specialist skill: Indonesian coverage of his SEA Games final praised his "consistency in throwing, high focus, and calmness under pressure" across the tournament, qualities that held up against a stronger-rated field in the men's singles draw. His path to two singles golds, at both the PON and SEA Games level, within about 15 months of each other points to a player suited to the format's solo pressure - no teammates to share the load, every throw his own.

Legacy

Andri Irawan's 2025 SEA Games gold carries outsized significance for Indonesian petanque: it was the country's first gold in the sport at its marquee regional event, arrived against a field that did not rate him a favorite, and followed closely on his historic PON XXI 2024 title for DKI Jakarta. Together with the rest of Indonesia's six-medal haul at the same Games, his win has been cited by Indonesia's federation, FOPI, as a sign that the country's petanque program - built on French-introduced courts in cities like Jakarta, Lombok, Yogyakarta and Bali, and formalized under FOPI since 2011 - is now producing internationally competitive talent.