Jakarta pulls away in medal race<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Host Jakarta broke away for a commanding lead in
\nthe medal race as the 14th National Games (PON) stepped up the
\npace with more records yesterday.<\/p>\n
The swimming pool and weight lifting gym again played host to
\nrecord-breaking contests, which resulted in five new national
\nrecords.<\/p>\n
Jakarta soared to a huge medal collection of 19 golds, 15
\nsilvers and 10 bronzes, leaving West Java in a distant second
\nwith nine golds, seven silvers and 17 bronzes.<\/p>\n
Archery helped East Java, which relinquished its traditional
\nrunner-up place in the Games to West Java three years ago, speed
\nup the pace, with three gold medals.<\/p>\n
East Java remained at third spot, with eight golds, 15 silvers
\nand five bronzes. But the biggest team in this year's Games still
\nhas nine days more to repeat its 1989 feat of reaching second
\nplace.<\/p>\n
After the second day of competition yesterday, the medal tally
\nsaw encouraging changes as 25 of 27 provinces have now joined the
\nlist of medal-winning provinces.<\/p>\n
East Java took three of eight gold medals offered in archery
\nyesterday, which saw Indonesian Olympians fail to live up to
\ntheir status. Dahliana saved the big names from embarrassment
\nwith her 60-meter gold for East Kalimantan, while fellow Olympian
\nand sister Hamdiah managed only a bronze, also in the same
\ndivision.<\/p>\n
Nurfitriyana Lantang, dubbed Indonesia's best archer for her
\nOlympic silver in 1988 and World Championship bronze last year,
\nwalked off the field empty-handed.<\/p>\n
Track and field started the competition day in a flat showing.
\nThere were no notable records, but a meet record fell in the six
\nmedal events contested yesterday, which saw Irian Jaya take a
\nslender lead with two golds.<\/p>\n
Mardi Lestari, the former continent's fastest man, extended
\nthe grumbles of track and field enthusiasts with an early exit in
\nhis favorite 100m dash.<\/p>\n
The 30-year-old North Sumatran, who admitted making poor
\npreparations, clocked his career worst time of 11.90 seconds to
\nfinish in the rear in the heat.<\/p>\n
Jakarta mined three golds from the pool in the Games evening
\nprogram yesterday, but it was East Javanese women's swimmer Rita
\nMariani who stole the show.<\/p>\n
Rita took full advantage of her favorite 200m breaststroke
\ndiscipline, touching the finish block in two minutes and 36.13
\nseconds to beat her own national best by 0.75 of a second.<\/p>\n
Dwi Pujiastuti of North Sulawesi finished further back in
\n2:41.78 for the silver, ahead of Olga Halim of West Sumatra, who
\nclocked 2:42.12.<\/p>\n
Elsa Manora Nasution of Jambi collected her second gold of the
\nGames in the 200m freestyle, despite her lackluster time of
\n2:07.93. Meitri Widya Pangestika came second in 2:09.01, followed
\nby West Java's mermaid Catherine Surya, who swam 2:09.94.<\/p>\n
Wisnu Wardhana joined the national record breaker list when he
\nwas timed 55.97 seconds for the men's 100m butterfly gold medal.
\nHis mark shoved 0.47 of a second off his own national best.<\/p>\n
Felix Sutanto earned Jakarta its second gold in the men's 400m
\nindividual medley with a time of 4:34.72, well inside the
\nnational record of 4:34.27 set by his twin brother Albert, who
\nfinished second in yesterday's competition in 4:43.10.<\/p>\n
Jakarta ended the day with the 4 X 200m freestyle relay, the
\nnewly included event in the Games. The home quartet of Wisnu,
\nFelix, Albert and Olympian Richard Sam Bera proved too much, with
\na combined time of 7:56.61 seconds, almost a second slower than
\ntheir national best mark they set in the Southeast Asian Games in
\nChiang Mai, Thailand last December. (amd)<\/p>\n
Leading medal tally (after the second day of competition):<\/p>\n
G S B
\n Jakarta 18 14 7
\n East Java 8 12 6
\n West Java 8 7 15
\n Lampung 5 4 6
\n Jambi 4 2 1
\n S. Sulawesi 3 7 3
\n Central Java 3 3 9
\n Irian Jaya 3 3 1
\n Yogyakarta 2 2 1
\n N. Sulawesi 2 1 3
\n E. Kalimantan 2 0 4
\n West Sumatra 1 1 3
\n North Sumatra 1 1 3
\n S. Kalimantan 1 1 1
\n W. Kalimantan 1 0 1
\n Bali 0 1 2
\n Riau 0 0 2
\n SE Sulawesi 0 1 1
\n South Sumatra 0 1 0
\n East Timor 0 0 3
\n E. Nusa Tenggara 0 1 0
\n Bengkulu 0 0 1<\/p>",
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