Angie brightens up awards presentation

Robert Soelistyo, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Teenage tennis player Angelique "Angie" Widjaja (at the podium) was the star of the 2002 Indonesian Best Athletes and Coach Awards presentation on Friday, securing two awards, one in the best female category and one in the favorite athlete category.

In the best female category, the 19-year-old Angie, who had a hand in helping the country secure one of its four golds in last year's Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, defeated 2000 Sydney Olympic bronze medalist weightlifter Lisa Rumbewas, the 2002 Asian Games cycling silver medalist Uyun Muzizah and Wynne Adiati Prakusya, one of Angie's fellow tennis players in the 2002 Asian Games.

In the best male athlete category, badminton player Taufik Hidayat took the crown defeating popular soccer player Bambang Pamungkas, two other Asian Games 2002 gold medalists, Oka Sulaksana of windsurfing and Hasan Basri of karate, and chess player Cerdas Barus.

Besides his gold in the Busan Asian Games, Taufik also had a share in Indonesia's victory in last year's Thomas Cup Men's badminton championship.

Meanwhile, in the best coach category, the winner was soccer's Bambang Nurdiansyah.

The awards were presented by Bola tabloid in cooperation with TV7 television station.