Chiang Mai's sky turns gray for Indonesian camp

Wed, 13 Dec 1995

CHIANG MAI, Thailand (JP): It was another gray day for Indonesia yesterday in the Southeast Asian Games as host Thailand sprinted away to widen the lead in the chase for gold.

The Indonesian camp was further demoralized after its soccer team crashed out of the competition to lowly rated Vietnam.

Of the 49 gold medals that were at stake yesterday, Indonesia managed 14, bringing its total gold tally to 24. But Thailand added 23, including seven from track and fields, for a total of 55 by late yesterday.

The golds Indonesia grabbed yesterday were presented among others by the women's tennis team despite Yayuk Basuki's upset defeat in the singles, women weightlifter Patmawati in the 64 kg category, Ndiken Timotius in the decathlon, the quartet of Deddy Risdian, Hengky Setiawan, Teguh Pambudi and Yudi Febrianto in the cycling's 4 km team pursuit and Andri Sudradjat in the cycling sprint.

Three judokas contributed to the haul of gold: Bayu Kuesna won the men's middleweight category, Aprilia Marzuki in the women's middleweight and Suyudani Nimade in the women's half middleweight. The men's and women's badminton teams and the men's and women's table tennis teams together gave four golds.

Indonesian officials were not totally dispirited by the performance of their athletes yesterday, saying that there was still a chance, albeit merely a mathematical one, for Indonesia to retain the overall championship title.

"It's still open. It's not over yet," chairman of the Indonesian Sports Council Wismoyo Arismunandar said. "We hope our athletes can lift their spirit. There's still a chance."

Mohammad Sarengat, secretary of the Indonesian SEA Games team, said the "war is not over yet. We still have several battles to fight, although we lost in some areas."

He pointed out that silat, weightlifting, judo and badminton, in which Indonesian athletes usually excel, had just begun.

In all, 334 gold medals are at stake, and yesterday the Games had not even reached the half way stage.

There were indeed brief spells of sun in the Indonesian camp with three of its boxers Aswin Roberth Cabui, Pino Bahari and Albeth Papilaya reaching the finals.

The biggest disappointment yesterday came in soccer in which the match was televised live to millions in Indonesia.

After two fine performances earlier -- 9-0 against lowly Cambodia and an unexpected 3-0 victory over Malaysia -- Indonesia, which needed only a draw to ensure a place in the semifinal, turned defensive in the first half and paid dearly when Huynh Huu-dng found the net in the 40th minute.

In the second half, Indonesia put up a big fight but to no avail. Instead Indriyanto, Agung and Aples were given the yellow cards for overzealous tackling.

The win put Vietnam second place behind Thailand with nine points. The host team topped the A group with 10 points after beating Cambodia in another match yesterday.

Thailand's domination of the SEA Games was almost complete with their athletes continuing to run, jump, swim and dive their way to victory, often smashing old records in the process.

Thailand took all but two golds on offer at the track yesterday, setting new SEA Games records in the women's high jump, men's shot put, men's 4x100-meter relay and men's 400 meters hurdles.

In the diving pool, Suchat Pichi won his second gold and third medal of the games by taking the men's event and Sukratai Tomma-o-ros won the women's event.

Thailand's swimming sensation Rattapong Srisanont, who continued to smash SEA Games records in the pool on Monday, seemed set to repeat his performance on Tuesday.

Rattapong, who holds the Asian Games and SEA Games record in the 400-meter individual medley, took the first swimming gold on Tuesday by winning that event.