ASEAN Women's club enjoy some fun in the sun

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Clad in sports gear and large sun visors to keep the sun off their skin, dozens of women got together at the Malaysian Embassy compound in South Jakarta on Saturday morning, for a day full of socializing and friendly sporting competitions.

The ladies of the diplomatic circuit, mostly staff members at the embassies of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members, met on this occasion for ASEAN Women's Circle- Malaysia Sports Day.

"These are just friendship games, which are not based on a high standard of sport. And the most important thing from the event is that all participants can get together," explained organizer Adnan Othman, who is also the chief of mission at the Malaysian Embassy.

Cheers and laughter filled the air as they competed against each other in competitions such as tug-of-war and badminton after Malaysian ambassador Datok Hamidon Ali opened the event.

In the tug-of-war event, the Malaysian team (photo left) beat the Indonesian team in the final.

The Thai women completed a clean sweep on the badminton courts. Yada Tooyalah won the singles title, while her colleagues Patchara Kosaka and Maliwan Moir also made the podium, in second and third, respectively.

Thailand's doubles pair Patchara and Yada also won gold, while colleagues Pentippa Pipoppinya and Maliwan Moir finished third. Second place was grabbed by Malaysia's doubles pair of Khadijah Atan and Romailin Nedi.

The hosts, including Datin Amy Hamidon won the "big walk" event for ladies above 40, while Izan Zulkifle, also Malaysian, won the title in the category for ladies below 40. Wahyuningsih of Indonesia got first place in the "big walk" competition for the golden girls.

Amy Hamidon was also named the "ASEAN sportswoman" because she met all the criteria of "friendly and warm-hearted and a good mingler with other participants, playing fair, assisting fellow participants in the spirit of sport, while exhibiting determination and strength", according to Adnan.

To conclude the day, the hosts got everyone together for a splendid lunch of various traditional Malay dishes like nasi lemak, sambal bilis, ikan bilis, roti canai, satay and kwey teow.

Several of the women also won airline tickets to Kuala Lumpur and Bali during a lucky draw.