No more medals for Indonesia as Juana crashes<\/p>\n
By Primastuti Handayani<\/p>\n
SYDNEY (JP): The second-round defeat of Juana Wangsa Putri in
\nthe 49kg division of women's taekwondo on Wednesday virtually
\nburied Indonesia's hopes of adding medals to its collection.<\/p>\n
Asian Games silver medalist Juana was expected to win at least
\nthe bronze in the South Korean martial art that was making its
\nOlympic debut before reality hit. Lacking initiative, the
\nIndonesian crashed out with a 2-7 loss to Hanne Hoegh Poulsen of
\nDenmark, the 1998 world junior champion in the 47kg category.<\/p>\n
Poulsen had sprang a surprise in the first round by beating
\nfavorite Kay Poe of the United States 4-3. Juana received a bye.<\/p>\n
After playing a cautious game, Poulsen charged Juana with a
\nflurry of attacks which left Juana on the receiving end. To make
\nthings worse, Juwana received a warning from Venezuelan referee
\nMartin Ramon Blanco for a foul.<\/p>\n
Poulsen's endless efforts again paid off in the final minutes
\nas she collected two more points to stretch her lead and win the
\nmatch.<\/p>\n
Juana burst into tears after the panel of judges scored in
\nfavor of the Dane. National Sports Council (KONI) chairman
\nWismoyo Arismunandar and the Indonesian team's chef de mission
\nArie Sudewo proceeded to the court to console the 23-year-old
\nathlete.<\/p>\n
\"I couldn't concentrate as the three umpires didn't count lots
\nof my kicks,\" she said amid her sobs after the match.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Taekwondo Association (TI) secretary-general,
\nAndreas Lumandow, expressed his disappointment with the result.<\/p>\n
\"Juana was very tense during the bout and that influenced her
\nperformance. She couldn't fight it out. Actually we hoped she
\nwould finish at least fourth on the overall,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Juana did not have a second chance to compete in the repechage
\nas Poulsen was beaten by Lauren Burns of Australia 0-1 in the
\nsemifinals. Burns eventually won the gold, the first for host
\nAustralia, after downing Urbia Melendez Rodriguez of Cuba 4-2 in
\nthe final.<\/p>\n
Burns, who won the world championship bronze medal in 1997 and
\nthe U.S. Open last year, had beaten world 47kg champion Chi Shu-
\nJu of Taiwan in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
In the men's 58kg final, Michail Mouroutsos of Greece took out
\nSpain's Gabriel Esparza 4-2, while third spot went to Huang Chih-
\nhsiung of Taiwan who overcame Gabriel Alberto Taraburelli of
\nArgentina 3-0.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's contention for medals received a further blow as
\nits representative in the women's 3m springboard diving, Eka
\nPurnama Indah, managed only to finish second from the bottom in
\nthe 43-field competition.<\/p>\n
Eka collected a total of 178.83 points, far from the three top
\nfinishers Fu Mingxia of China with 342.75, Guo Jingjing of China
\nwith 332.67 and Ioulia Pakhalina of Russia with 316.08.<\/p>\n
Men's springboard diver Muhammad Nasrullah and men's 4x100
\nmeters relay team are the only Indonesian athletes left in the
\nmedal chase.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/no-more-medals-for-indonesia-as-juana-crashes-1447893297",
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