Albert, diver Shenny take the honors in the pool

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (JP): Indonesia enjoyed its biggest medal haul in the Southeast Asian Games pool on Tuesday, winning two golds from its swimmers and another from its diver.

Thailand and Malaysia also earned two gold medals each in swimming while Singapore bagged one.

Indonesia men's team of Richard Sam Bera, Felix and Albert Christiadi Sutanto and Wisnu Wardhana retained their 4x100m freestyle relay title they held since 1991 with a new SEA Games record time of three minutes and 27.69 seconds. They smashed their own record of 3:51.43 they set in the 1997 Games in Jakarta.

The Singaporean team finished second for the silver in 3:28.12, followed by Malaysia which came in 3:29.62.

Two more SEA Games records were broken on Tuesday. Singapore's golden girl Joscelin Yeo clocked 1:00.44 in the 100m butterfly to sharpen her own mark of 1:01.59 she set in Chiang Mai, Thailand in 1995.

The silver went to Minpraphal Praphalsal of Thailand, who was timed 1:01.16, while the bronze went to Aung Moe Thu Aung of Myanmar, who made it at 1:03.65.

"I am very happy. I wasn't really aiming at setting a new record, but that's the result," Joscelin said at a brief media conference.

Earlier, the 20-year-old student of the School of Biology in the University of California at Berkeley, shattered her personal bests in the 100m freestyle, 100m breast stroke and 200m individual medley.

Malaysian Alex Lim Keng Liat clocked 56.20 in the men's 100m backstroke to eclipse the old record of 56.48 established by Raymond Papa of the Philippines.

Coming second was Gary Tan of Singapore who clocked 58.00, followed by Indonesia's Felix Sutanto who came in 59.27.

There were two medals for Indonesia in the men's 100m butterfly, with Albert Sutanto outsprinting teammate and favorite, Wisnu Wardhana. Albert clocked 56.25 seconds to earn the gold. The silver medal went to Anthony Ang Kang Keam of Malaysia who finished in 56.47, followed by Wisnu who was timed at 56.72.

Butterfly stroke specialist Albert said he was satisfied with the result in the individual event, which also earned him a place in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

"I thank God for this victory. It was great. This is the first time I won a gold in the individual event in the SEA Games since I took part in 1991. I only managed to collect silver and bronze medals in the previous Games," he said.

He expressed his hope that he could perform in the Olympics.

"This is my personal ambition. I might quit swimming after that," said the 23-year-old student of the Golden West Junior College in Huntington Beach, California.

However, his team failed to qualify for the Olympics because it did not meet the time limit of 3:25.00.

"We failed to qualify for the relay event, but we still have another chance if we take part in the US Open swimming championship in December," Albert said.

Indonesia's other gold was contributed by women's diver Shenny Ratna Amelia in the 10-meter platform event. Shenny made a sweet revenge after she lost in the 1997 Games and only pocketed the silver.

"I'm very happy to win the gold here. This is my first gold medal since I took part in the Games two years ago," she said.

Also in a surprising move, Elsa Manora Nasution won the silver in the 100m backstroke, while Felix netted a bronze in the 100m backstroke. (ivy)