Thailand regains Games supremacy with 64 gold<\/p>\n
By Primastuti Handayani and Ivy Susanti<\/p>\n
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (JP): The badminton contingent allowed
\nbeleaguered Indonesia to hold its head high at the 20th Southeast
\nAsian Games, which will close on Sunday.<\/p>\n
But three gold medals in badminton and one each from boxing,
\ntennis and table tennis on Saturday were not even enough to
\nupstage Malaysia for second place.<\/p>\n
Thailand is almost certain to emerge the overall winner in the
\nnine-day event after it surged ahead on top of the medals tally
\nwith 64 golds.<\/p>\n
Thailand, the biggest contingent with 361 athletes, crowned
\nits supremacy with the coveted soccer gold medal after beating
\nVietnam 2-0 in Saturday's final, sweet revenge for its loss to
\nthe same opponent in the Tiger Cup last year.<\/p>\n
Malaysia slipped to second after an overnight lead with 54
\ngolds, 44 silvers and 42 bronzes, while Indonesia remained third
\nwith 44 golds, 42 silvers and 57 bronzes.<\/p>\n
Taufik Hidayat salvaged some Indonesian pride by winning the
\nbadminton men's singles gold medal, The 18-year-old Indonesian
\nbeat Wong Choon Han of Malaysia 15-10, 11-15, 15-11 in a match
\nlasting nearly two hours.<\/p>\n
Supported by nearly 2,000 Indonesians, including swimmers and
\nathletes from other sports, the All England finalist played his
\nbest game to hand Wong a second straight defeat within a week.
\nTaufik had helped Indonesia retain the men's team gold medal on
\nTuesday.<\/p>\n
In the women's singles, Cindana Hartono defeated Sujitra
\nEakmongkolpaisarn 11-5, 11-2 to collect her first individual gold
\nmedal at the Games.<\/p>\n
Another gold was earned from the women's doubles after Etty
\nTantri and Cynthia Tuwankotta defeated compatriots Indarti
\nIssoliana and Emma Ermawati 17-15, 15-6.<\/p>\n
Men's doubles of Flandy Limpele and Eng Hian couldn't extend
\nIndonesia's winning streak as they suffered an upset 8-15, 15-8,
\n13-15 defeat to the Thai pairing of Pramote Teerawiwatana and
\nTeesana Pansisavas.<\/p>\n
In tennis, the Indonesian partnership of Wynne Prakusya and
\nRomana Tedjakusuma contributed another gold when they beat
\nteammates Liza Andriyani and Wukirasih Sawondari 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day Wynne crashed to Filipino Maricris
\nFernandez in the gold medal match.<\/p>\n
Light heavyweight boxer Albert Papilaya capped his
\ninternational career in style before retirement when he stopped
\nThailand's Somsak Janthaporn for the gold medal. Albert has now
\nwon six of his seven appearances in the SEA Games finals.<\/p>\n
The chief police sergeant, who turns 32 on Sept. 15, performed
\nexcellently to become the country's sole gold medalist in the
\nboxing ring.<\/p>\n
In the do-or-die match of table tennis, Anton Suseno and
\nHadijudo Prajitno unexpectedly outclassed Singaporean doubles of
\nZhang Tay Yang and Duan Yong Jun 12-21, 21-17, 21-16.<\/p>\n
Anton still has a chance to win another gold as he will take
\non Duan in Sunday morning's men's singles final.<\/p>\n
Indonesia managed to avoid going home empty-handed in soccer
\nas the team finally beat Singapore 4-2 in a penalty shoot-out.<\/p>\n
The country's basketball team overwhelmed Singapore 75-71 to
\nget the bronze medal.<\/p>\n
The third-placed result was a step down from Indonesia's
\nbasketball throne gained two years ago.<\/p>\n
The National Sports Council chairman, Wismoyo Arismunandar,
\ncalled on the national sports community not to put the blame for
\nthe contingent's disappointing showing on officials.<\/p>\n
Wismoyo said he would call sports organizations officials to
\nmeet and discuss how to improve sports development in the
\ncountry.<\/p>",
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