Bayu wins his seventh PON gold medal
Bayu wins his seventh PON gold medal
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Palembang
Judo veteran Krisna Bayu won his career-seventh gold in the
National Games to give host South Sumatra one of the two golds
collected on the second day of competition on Friday.
South Sumatra's second gold was contributed by Catarin Kalalo
in the 50-meter immersion fin-swimming, more than making up for
her disappointing performance in 50-meter surface event on
Thursday.
Jakarta remained at the top of the medal tally with 12 gold
medals followed by former PON hosts West Java and North Sumatra,
which were emerged as the biggest gold-medal winners on the day,
in second and third respectively.
The two teams now have eight golds each but West Java, PON
host in 1961, outscored 1951 host North Sumatra by taking three
silvers against one.
Both West Java and North Sumatra ended the day's competition,
winning four golds apiece.
After winning three golds on Thursday, West Java continued its
onslaught in the fin-swimming with another two victories by Nania
Gozali and Kevin Angga in the 100 meter women's and men's
immersion events.
Ira Purnama Sari won the women's over-78 kilogram event in the
judo, while West Java won the other gold in the equestrian.
North Sumatra triumphed at the Pertamina sports hall, striking
triple victories in the wushu event, courtesy of Nurdiana, Zainab
and Howandi Santoso.
Deny Zulfrendi beat Niki Maretama in the men's over-100
kilogram event in the judo competition to hand the team its other
gold.
While West Java and North Sumatra enjoyed their winning
moments, South Sumatra had its own to cheer, with local fans
coming to the judo venue to watch Bayu win his gold.
Bayu, whose Olympic bid crashed early in Athens, has so far
collected seven golds for three different teams in PON in
previous games: Central Java, West Java and South Sumatra.
The host made a surprise in the team dual-sheet duration
paragliding event by winning the gold on Friday, defeating
favorite Jakarta.
In the other venues, Wynne Prakusya of Central Java won over
Patricia Soesilo of East Java, 6-3, 6-3, in women's team tennis
match to hand Central Java a 3-0 win over East Java in the last
match of Group D.
Sony Dwi Kuncoro of East Java lost 17-15, 15-4 to Simon
Santoso of Jakarta in men's team badminton match with Jakarta
winning over East Java 3-2 in the final match of Group B.
Meanwhile, on second day of the Games the turn-out from the
crowd varied significantly depending on the event.
In basketball, volleyball, and judo, spectators packed the
stadiums, while in wushu and tennis, the spectators were
relatively few.
The aerosport, swimming, waterpolo, equestrian, baseball,
badminton, bridge, rowing, golf, soccer, archery, judo, wushu,
and tennis competitions will continue on Saturday.