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

Andri Irawan - Quick Facts

Ending a 14-Year Wait

Andri Irawan is the Indonesian petanque player who ended a 14-year gold-medal drought for the country at the SEA Games. 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 - Indonesian petanque's first SEA Games gold since the 2011 edition, which Indonesia itself hosted.

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."

He was not a newcomer to international competition when the 2025 SEA Games gold arrived: Irawan had already represented Indonesia at the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines, though a detailed breakdown of his results from that edition was not available in the sources found for this profile.

His 2025 SEA Games gold was one of four medals won by Indonesia's petanque squad at that edition - alongside a silver from Topan Satria in men's individual precision shooting and bronze medals from Anni Saputri Nijamudin in women's precision shooting and Anjani Dwi Aprilliah in women's singles - the country's best petanque haul in years, and one federation and government officials pointed to as 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 broke a 14-year national drought at the sport's 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 squad-mate Topan Satria's silver medal at the same Games, his win has been cited by Indonesia's federation, FOPI, as a sign 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 producing internationally competitive talent again.