Indonesia comes up short in medal hunt<\/p>\n
By Primastuti Handayani and Ivy Susanti<\/p>\n
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (JP): With relatively few medals up for
\ngrabs, Indonesia earned two more golds on the fifth day of
\ncompetition at the 20th Southeast Asian Games here on Thursday.<\/p>\n
But with only three days remaining and most medals already
\ndistributed, it is almost certain that defending overall champion
\nIndonesia will not move to the top.<\/p>\n
Indonesia remained third in the medals standing with 34 golds,
\n31 silvers and 45 bronzes. Thailand picked up gold medals in
\ngolf, snooker and shooting to extend its lead with 47 golds, 36
\nsilvers and 41 bronzes, ahead of Malaysia which collected 45
\ngolds, 35 silvers and 39 bronzes.<\/p>\n
There is a possibility that Indonesia will finish third for
\nthe first time since it joined the Games in 1977.<\/p>\n
The National Sports Council chairman, Wismoyo Arismunandar,
\nblamed the lack of funds to finance sports development as the
\nreason for the foreseeable defeat.<\/p>\n
\"Due to the unabated economic crisis, our athletes didn't have
\nmany chances at overseas tryouts. We could not expect them to
\nreach the optimal outcome as they did in Jakarta two years ago,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
One of Indonesia's gold medals came in the traditional boat
\nrace held at Serasa Water Sports Complex after its men's 22-crew
\nteam won the 800 meters in 2:48.49 seconds.<\/p>\n
The other gold was taken by men's cyclist Herry Janto Setiawan
\nwho triumphed in the men's 70 kilometers criterium race with 31
\npoints. Malaysian Faizul Izwan Abdul Rahman scored 28 points for
\nthe silver, and the bronze went to Norberto Oconer of the
\nPhilippines, who collected 26 points.<\/p>\n
A solitary goal from Vietnam's Nguyen Hong Son 20 minutes
\nbefore the end of the game dashed Indonesia's hope to win the
\ngold medal in soccer for the first time since 1991.<\/p>\n
Vietnam will face defending champion Thailand, after edging
\nout Singapore 2-0 in the other semifinal.<\/p>\n
Indonesian women's golf team Ani Iman, Sitti Retno Purwandari
\nand Titi Puryanti managed to finish third for the bronze. The
\ngold went to Thailand and the silver to Malaysia.<\/p>\n
Indonesia hopes to win five more golds in badminton as most of
\nits players reached the semifinals on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The highlight of Friday's semifinals will be matches pitting
\nIndonesian and Malaysian players. Taufik Hidayat and Ronny
\nAgustinus will meet Malaysia's Roslin Hashim and Wong Choon Han
\nrespectively in the men's singles, and Indonesian men's doubles
\nteam of Flandy Limpele and Eng Hian will play Chew Choon Eng and
\nRosman Razak.<\/p>\n
On the tennis courts, Indonesia hopes to grab two more golds
\nin the women's doubles and mixed doubles on Friday.<\/p>\n
Anton Suseno is the only Indonesian left in the race for gold
\nmedals in table tennis.<\/p>\n
Indonesia also hopes to win three more golds in pencak silat,
\nand a gold each in boxing and swimming on Friday.<\/p>\n
Veteran Albert Papilaya holds the greatest chance of four
\nIndonesians who reached the boxing finals.<\/p>\n
In the pool, Richard Sam Bera is expected to contribute one
\nmore gold from the men's 4x100m medley relay.<\/p>",
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