Debutant breaks down after striking gold<\/p>\n
By Budiman Moerdijat<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): An Indonesian banking student making her SEA
\nGames debut and with no medal ambitions broke down and sobbed
\nuncontollably when she won her gold-medal match in the taekwondo
\nfinweight division yesterday.<\/p>\n
Juana Wangsa Putri, from Jakarta, could hardly believe it when
\nthe referee awarded her the ninth and diciding point to give her
\na 5-4 victory over Myanmar's Khin Swe Oo at the Bulungan Sports
\nHall, South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The 20-year-old sophomore student at Perbanas (the National
\nBanking Institute) ran over to her Korean coach, Oh Ill Nam, who
\ngave her a big hug. The one thousand spectators joined in the
\ncelebrations by stamping their feet on the grandstand floor.<\/p>\n
"I am proud to win the 19th SEA Games," was all she could say
\nwhen asked how she felt. She then said she had not started the
\ncompetition expecting to win. "I was just trying to do my best."<\/p>\n
She is now turning her attention to preparing for the World
\nChampionships next month in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
Ill Nam added that Juana had had to shed six kilos in the run-
\nup to the Games to make the 43 kilo weight limit for the fin
\nweight division.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's defending heavyweight champion, Andri Halim also
\nwon gold yesterday, confidently defeating Thailand's Prawes
\nSattakom 5-3. He clinched his gold medal with two brilliant kicks
\nto Sattakom's head and body.<\/p>\n
"I feel relief that I have won the match because I had been
\nunder pressure," he said, adding that it had come from both being
\nthe defending champion and from representing the host country.<\/p>\n
In the other two medal events Indonesia fared less well.
\nAgustina Shanti and Andi Cahyadi contributed two bronze medals,
\nin the female heavyweight and the male finweight respectively.<\/p>\n
Agustina was beaten by the eventual gold medalist, Lee Wan
\nYuen from Malaysia, in the semis, while Andi was also defeated in
\nthe semis, by the silver medalist Kumar Sandragasam.<\/p>\n
Kumar was defeated by the Philippines' Roberto Cruz in the
\nfinal match. Cruz has been unbeaten in the male finweight
\ncategory since the 16th SEA Games in 1991 in Manila, the
\nPhilippines.<\/p>\n
Prior to yesterday Indonesia had won two taekwondo gold
\nmedals. Yolandini Yolanda and Pino Indra Perdana had won the
\nfemale and male featherweight divisions respectively on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Taekwondo offers eight gold medals for both men and women, in
\neight categories, finweight, flyweight, bantamweight,
\nfeatherweight, lightweight, welterweight, middleweight and
\nheavyweight.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/debutant-breaks-down-after-striking-gold-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}