Indonesian rowers bag two golds<\/p>\n
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Hanoi<\/p>\n
Pere Karoba and the pairing of Agus Aji and Iswandi left their
\ncompetitors in their wakes to secure two rowing gold medals for
\nIndonesia at the Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Competing in the women's single sculls, Pere covered the
\n2,000-meter distance at West Lake in Hanoi in 08:28.26, leaving
\nPhuttaraksa Nikree of Thailand in second place with a time of
\n08:43.10. Elsie Lim Kim Hiok of Singapore was third in 08:52.64.<\/p>\n
Agus\/Iswandi clocked the best time of 07:12.70 in the men's
\nlightweight coxless pair, about nine seconds better that silver
\nmedalists Alvin Amposta\/Nestor Cordova of Philippines and 14
\nseconds ahead of home hopefuls Phan Than Hao\/Hoang Duc Tan.<\/p>\n
The team failed in the women's lightweight double sculls with
\nFemy Batwael and Rosmina Sanggrang Bano struggling to fourth
\nplace behind Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam.<\/p>\n
With the wind sweeping sweatily over the lake in the center of
\nthe city, Pere pulled away early to build a three-second lead
\nafter the first 500 meters over closest rival and defending
\nchampion Thai Nikree.<\/p>\n
Though Pere managed to improve her lead to five seconds at the
\nhalfway stage. Nikree, with the support of her team members
\ncheering her on, reduced the gap to three seconds 500 meters from
\nthe finish line.<\/p>\n
Over the final 500, Pere used her energy reserves to
\naccelerate to an incredible 16 second win.<\/p>\n
"I saw she (Nikree) pushed hard to catch with me early. I
\ntried to be consistent with my speed after 1000 meters. I sped up
\nin the last 500 and am grateful to have finished first," Pere
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Nikree, who was optimistic about her prospects prior to the
\nrace, said she was proud to have given the nation a gold medal.<\/p>\n
"I had no pressure. I was confident when I took to the water,"
\nshe said.<\/p>\n
Agus and Iswandi had a five-second lead after 500 meters and
\nbuilt the margin to nine seconds by the finish.<\/p>\n
Delighted team manager Rudi Susilo said that he could not have
\nhoped for larger winning margins.<\/p>\n
"Nikree looked a bit declining. But as you see she was still
\nable to gain success in the doubles," he said.<\/p>\n
Teaming up with Bussayamas Phaengkathok Nikree helped the Thai
\nteam win the lightweight double sculls over Naw Lail Kafall\/Myint
\nMyint of Myanmar and Mai Thi Dung\/Pham Thi Hien of Vietnam.<\/p>\n
In the men's lightweight single sculls Vu Dang Tuan won for
\nthe hosts while Jose Rodriguez of the Philippines and
\nRuthtanaphol Theppibal of Thailand settled for the silver and
\nbronze respectively.<\/p>",
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