Swimmer takes PON opening-day laurels<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The 14th National Games (PON) swung into full
\naction yesterday but failed to reach full speed as only two
\nnational records fell.<\/p>\n
It was a flat opening for the sporting event which is billed
\nas the platform from which the country's athletes spring toward
\nbetter performances at international events. However 10 meet
\nrecords were broken, two in swimming and eight in weight lifting.<\/p>\n
Catherine Surya stole the limelight. Arising from the ashes of
\nthe country's biggest doping scandal, which cost her the eight
\ngold medals she won in the last Games three years ago, Catherine
\nreturned to the podium in style with two golds for West Java.<\/p>\n
She splashed to the 200-meter butterfly gold medal in a new
\nnational best of two minutes and 16.14 seconds, destroying West
\nSumatran Olga Halim's two-year-old mark by 2.42 seconds.<\/p>\n
Catherine, who trained in Australia in preparation for the
\nGames, grabbed her second top honor in the 50m freestyle, but her
\ntime of 27.80 was 30 hundredths of a second slower than the
\nnational record held by Elsa Manora Nasution of Jambi.<\/p>\n
National record<\/p>\n
Earlier yesterday morning Lampung's female lifter Winarni
\nbecame the first athlete to set a national record. She improved
\nSupeni's national record of 105kgs in the clean and jerk category
\nby half a kilogram to win the women's 50kg division.<\/p>\n
Yogyakarta's female cyclist Nurhayati, who won the 20km
\nIndividual Time Trial, was the first athlete to mount the top
\nstep of the podium. The winner of two gold medals in the
\nSoutheast Asian Games in Thailand last December struck the maiden
\ngold of this sporting event in 29 minutes and 38.95 seconds.<\/p>\n
Success in the Karate competition ensured the host Jakarta
\ntook a slender lead at the top of the medal standings after the
\nfirst day of competition yesterday. The Japanese martial art gave
\nJakarta three out of five gold medals on offer.<\/p>\n
The medal tally highlights the dominance of Javanese teams,
\nwith the overall defending champion leading with six golds, seven
\nsilvers and four bronzes, in front of West Java with four golds,
\nfour silvers and eight bronzes.<\/p>\n
A soccer row tarnished the Games yesterday when a security
\nofficer beat Acehnese goalkeeper Zulkarnaen while he was leading
\nhis team to lodge a protest over the marching orders given to
\nteammate Salman in their preliminary round match against Central
\nJava.<\/p>\n
Zulkarnaen suffered serious injuries to his leg after the
\nincident that caused a 10-minute interruption to the match won by
\nCentral Java 1-0. Sugi Utomo scored the winner five minutes into
\nthe match.<\/p>\n
Aceh's deputy chief of the mission, Zainuddin Hamid, quickly
\nwrote a letter to the PON organizing committee, protesting the
\n\"brutal treatment\" meted out to his side.<\/p>\n
Track and field, the sport with the most gold medals, will
\nbegin today at the Madya Senayan stadium, with six of the 44
\ngolds up for grabs on the opening day of competition.<\/p>\n
Medal tally (after the first day of competition):<\/p>\n
G S B
\n Jakarta 6 7 4
\n West Java 5 4 8
\n East Java 3 2 0
\n Central Java 2 1 3
\n Lampung 2 1 3
\n S. Sulawesi 1 3 3
\n Yogyakarta 1 1 1
\n Jambi 1 2 0
\n S. Kalimantan 1 1 1
\n Irian Jaya 1 0 0
\n N. Sumatra 0 1 2
\n Bali 0 0 1
\n E. Kalimantan 0 0 1
\n Riau 0 0 1
\n W. Sumatra 0 0 1
\n W. Kalimantan 0 0 1<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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