Aceh wins 1st gold, Rina 4th gold

Aceh wins 1st gold, Rina 4th gold

Moch. N. Kurniawan and Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Palembang

The conflict-torn province of Nangroe Aceh Darussalam won its
first gold on Monday at the 16th National Games courtesy of
Habli, who triumphed in the fencing competition.

Habli won the gold in the men's individual epee after
defeating Andre Senduk of North Sulawesi in the final at the IAIN
sports hall.

National archer Rina Dewi Puspitasari, who is representing
East Java, made amends for her disappointing run in Athens by
getting her fourth gold at the games to help her province collect
six golds from archery.

"I'm glad that I helped the team win another gold. This is a
team victory," Rina said.

As of 8 p.m. local time on Monday, Jakarta still topped the
overall medal standings with a total of 38 golds, followed
closely by West Java with 35 golds.

Host province South Sumatra was ranked fifth with 14 golds,
but the positions might change with swimming yet to be completed.

Jakarta added two golds to its tally from tennis, four from
wushu, one from rollerblading, one from athletics, two from
aerosports and one from swimming.

The tennis team from the capital city followed in the winning
steps of their badminton team members by chalking up a double
victory -- taking both the men's and women's team events.

Sandy Gumulya put in an aggressive performance to beat the
experienced Wynne Prakusya 6-4, 6-3 to ensure Jakarta's 2-0 win
over Central Java after Wukirasih Sawondari defeated Lavinia
Tananta of Central Java 6-1, 6-2 in the first match.

"Both team are more or less equal. It could have gone either
way. Sandy played a brilliant game. She was so aggressive and put
Wynne under pressure," said former Indonesian tennis queen Yayuk
Basuki, who coaches and plays for the Jakarta team.

Their male counterparts followed with a crushing 2-0 win over
South Sumatra.

Feby Widhianto lost only a game in his 6-1, 6-0 victory over
Ferdy Fauzi, while Nesa Arta eased past Novi Hendri 6-1, 6-4.

West Java collected three golds from canoeing and one apiece
from aerosports, cycling and swimming.

In the rowing, Sayadin, in the K-1 category, Asnawair in the
C-1, and Tri Noorendah, Kanti Setiawati, Siti Mariam and Royani
Rais in the women's K-4, were too strong for their opponents.

There was a dearth of new national records on the opening day
of track and field competition.

The only highlight of the day was when Edi Zakaria, who
participated in Athens, broke the games old mark in the 110-meter
hurdles to earn East Java the gold.

Edi clocked the best time of 14.16 seconds to surpass the old
record 14.54 seconds. But he fell short of improving on his own
national record of 14.11 that he established in Athens.

Overall, the East Java athletic squad ended the opening day
with two golds. South Sumatra also won two. Jakarta, Papua and
Riau took the rest.

Meanwhile, Riau's shooters proved prolific, winning three
golds, leaving West Java and Central Java to take the remaining
two.