Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Manila
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Manila
Indonesia's campaign at the 23rd Southeast Asian Games
continued to stutter, with only four gold medals collected from
the third day of competition on Tuesday.
Tae kwon doin Basuki Nugroho, karateka Umar Syarif, cyclist
Dadi Nurcahyadi and bowler Ryan Leonard Lalisang took gold to
bring the national total to 10 after three days of competition.
Kusnan Ismukanto, the national official in charge competition
in Metro Manila, tried to be philosophical about the situation.
"The athletes perform according to what they get from their
training. If they lose, they may not be in good form. Even if
they are in good form, the opponents may be better than them and
they are still defeated. All of this takes analysis," Kusnan told
The Jakarta Post here on Tuesday.
The Philippines picked up 13 gold medals on Tuesday to take
their total to 38, an 18-gold lead on Vietnam, which won the last
overall medal count when it hosted the Games two years ago.
Particularly disappointing has been track and field, with a
silver and three bronze from 12 events at Rizal Memorial Sports
Complex.
Another 12 gold medals will be at stake on Wednesday's final
day of track and field.
The problem and the need to fix it was recognized by the man
in charge of national athletics.
"We need to improve our organizational management and
development system. We are looking to make sure that athletes do
not easily suffer a drop in stamina," chairman of the Indonesian
Athletics Association (PASI) Mohamad "Bob" Hasan said.
He added that there were many young athletes, selected from a
recent talent scouting program, with good prospects, and that
PASI was considering a program to bring in foreign coaches.
On Tuesday, Darwati clocked one hour, 52 minutes and 13.4
seconds in the women's 20-km walk to finish behind Yuan Yu Fang
of Malaysia, who won in 1:42.52.2.
The bronze medals were contributed by Oliva Sadi in the
women's 1,500 meters, the men's team in the 4 x 400-meter relay
and Zulkarnaen Purba in the men's 400-meter hurdles.
The men's 4 x 100-meter team was disqualified after final
runner John Herman Murai dropped the baton.
Hopes for gold in the wrestling competition at San Andres Gym
evaporated when Rudhi Septadhi lost in the final. It was a cruel
reversal of fortune for the Indonesian 21-year-old Games first-
timer after his excellent performance in earlier rounds.
In the 84-kilogram division, Rudhi overcame Rawin Phethaek of
Thailand and John Esteban of Philippines, only to be easily
defeated by Man Ba Xuan in the final in under one minute.
The dejected Indonesian had no words of excuse but praised his
more experienced opponent. "He's just better than me," he said.
In tae kwon do, Bambang made up for a loss to Alexander
Briones in the welterweight final at the 2003 Games by beating
the Filipino this time around.
To raucous shouts of, "Go Indonesia", the 24 year old from
Medan was able to take the winning point with the bout tied 2-2.
"I was really fired up, especially because this was the final
bout of the day," he said.
In badminton, heavily favored Indonesia, led by Taufik
Hidayat, thrashed Vietnam 5-0 to reach the men's team final.
They meet Malaysia on Wednesday.
Their example was not followed by the women's team, which
lost 2-3 to Singapore.