Billy, Donny steal limelight amid Thai dominance

Moch. N. Kurniawan and ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

Indonesia won two more gold medals in the swimming competition and another four in pencak silat at the 12th ASEAN University Games here on Friday.

Billy Arfianto in the 200-meter breaststroke and Donny. B. Utomo in the 200-meter butterfly stole the limelight briefly amid Thailand's domination in the pool.

The home swimmers have collected three golds compared to Thailand's 17 after the defending champions added another four on Friday.

Billy recorded a time of 2:28.25 to win gold, followed by Vorrawuti Aumpwan of Thailand in 2:30.32 and Raphael Mattew S. of the Philippines in 2:31.00.

"It's still a bit slower than my best time. I seem to have rusted a bit after doing little speed training recently," Billy said, adding that his best time during training was 2:23.93.

Indonesian gold medalist at the 2003 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, Donny swam 2:08.92 to lead Dammy K. Nugraha to a one-two finish in the 200-meter butterfly with Siripansub Oran of Thailand finishing in third place.

"I'm glad that I could contribute a gold for my country," Donny said.

Indonesia was close to adding another gold to the collection but its men's 4x100-meter freestyle relay team was beaten in the final laps after taking the lead early.

With only three golds won from 23 already handed out, the Indonesian swim team was left contemplating how they could challenge mighty Thailand.

"I think we have lost ground in the battle for the championship in this Games," deputy chief of Indonesia contingent Eman Sumusi said.

On Saturday, swimming will offer the remaining eight of 31 golds in total.

Meanwhile, Indonesia and Vietnam enjoyed the lion's share of victories by winning four golds apiece in the pencak silat competition which offered nine golds on the day at the Airlangga University Campus. Malaysia took the other one.

Indonesia has now amassed 13 golds.

It was not an easy task on the mat for the home fighters. They had to cope with strong opposition from Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand.

Agung Widodo looked to be trailing in his match against Megat Iskandar of Malaysia before the Indonesian launched a punishing attack in the last rounds.

M. Kamaluddin had an easier task in his match. With his dominant display of skills he chalked up a knockout victory over Malaysian Moch. Hazamir Azrai.

The other two golds were contributed by A. Djamaluddin, who defeated Malaysian Moh. Hafiz Bin Mustafa, and the pairing of Febriyani E. Lubis and Nurjanah in the artistic event.

"I'm satisfied with the results. It might augur well for our next challenge at the 2005 SEA Games in Philippines," team manager Aliadi Ika said.

Thailand ended Friday's competition with a sweeping victory in all five individual events in tennis, women's basketball, men's and women's volleyball.

Medal tally at the ASEAN University Games on Friday:

No. Country Gold Silver Bronze

1. Thailand 47 40 25
2. Indonesia 30 33 41
3. Malaysia 9 17 21
4. Vietnam 8 3 6
5. Philippines 7 6 9
6. Singapore 1 2 10
7. Brunei - - 4