Acehnese wrap up victorious run
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post/Palembang
The Acehnese weightlifting squad rounded off their competition with an impressive performance, setting new National Games records in their haul of two golds here on Monday.
Yudi Suhartono triumphed in the men's 94-kilogram division in which he shattered the old marks in the snatch, clean-and-jerk, and total lift.
The old marks of 130 kilograms in the snatch, 170.5 kilograms in the clean-and-jerk and 300.5 kilograms in total -- which were registered by fellow Acehnese Tarso in 2000 -- were raised to 140 kilograms, 185 kilograms and 325 kilograms respectively.
Tarso also displayed an outstanding run on Monday. Now competing in the men's 105-kilogram division, he bettered the old national mark of 322 kilograms -- made by Junaedi of West Java in 2000 -- to 345 kilograms.
En route to his victory, he also broke the national record of 148 kilograms in the snatch and 180.5 kilograms in the clean-and-jerk to new lifts of 155 kilograms and 190 kilograms respectively.
The double victory put Aceh in second place behind Lampung, which topped the table with five of 15 golds on offer in the weightlifting competition.
The remaining eight were distributed one apiece to Bali, Jambi, Papua, Riau, South Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, South Sulawesi and West Java. The latter two joined the gold winners list on Monday.
For Yudi, his performance proved one step better than in 2000 when he won a silver for South Kalimantan.
"I was simply looking hard to secure a gold medal for Aceh. Thank God... not only gold, but a new Games record was scored," said the silver medalist at the 2003 Southeast Asian Games.
National Sports Council (KONI) chairman Agum Gumelar witnessed the competition at the UNSRI Sports Hall.
The wins were hailed by the Acehnese team with Rayuan Sukma, the deputy chairman of the Aceh chapter of KONI announcing cash bonuses for its successful athletes.
"Rp 40 million is allocated for a gold medalist. Some bonuses will be given to those who can break records in the Games," he said.
The silver in the men's 94-kilogram division went to Bahagia Rumah Tangga of West Java with a total lift of 305 kilograms, while the bronze was grabbed by Muslimim of East Java with a total of 300 kilograms.
West Java and South Sulawesi took the remaining two on offer in the day's competition.
In the men's 85 kilogram class, Sandow Weldemar Nasution of West Java and Asep Rahmat Hidayat of Jakarta scored an equal lift of 312.5 kilograms, but Sandow was awarded the gold given his body weight of 77 kilograms compared to Asep's 83.
Kosmas Manik of Bengkulu had to settle for bronze, with a total lift of 295 kilograms.
In the men's over-105-kilogram class, Reinaldi of South Sulawesi proved the most powerful lifter with his total lift of 327.5 kilograms, five kilograms heavier than Sunaryo of Jambi and Dedi Aprianto.
Sunaryo's body weight of 110 kilograms, compared to Dedi's 126 kilograms, decided who deserved the silver.