Controversial finish cheats Uyun of gold in road race

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Busan, South Korea

The Indonesian contingent at the Busan 2002 Asian Games won two more medals on Wednesday when women's cyclist Uyun Muzizah took a silver medal and women's weightlifter Tanti Pratiwi a bronze medal.

Uyun's silver medal achievement looked controversial as the gold medalist, host cyclist Kim Yong-mi, looked like having cheated in the last meters before the finish line in northern Gijang county.

Competing in the women's 96.8-kilometer individual road race, the 15 cyclists were in a single group with no rider successfully making a break to lead the pack.

Uyun was racing neck-to-neck with China's Jiang Yanxia, who won the bronze medal, when suddenly Kim sprinted from Uyun's rightside while pushing Uyun with her hand.

Under the regulations, no cyclist is allowed to take his or her arms from the handlebars during the last 200 meters.

Kim, Uyun and Jiang, along with seven other cyclists, all clocked 2:47:19. Another Indonesian cyclist, Santia Tri Kusuma finished in sixth place.

"I was concentrating on the Chinese cyclist but it turned out to be the Korean who took the advantage pushing me aside against the regulations," Uyun complained to reporters after the event.

"Kim came from my right and forced her way to the finish line. I am sure I could have won the gold medal if Kim had acted fairly," said Uyun.

Uyun's silver medal achievement had not been predicted as the Chinese and Japanese cyclists were the hot favorites for the event.

Indonesian officials filed a protest with the event's chief commissioner but the cycling organizing committee requested a videotaped film of the incident.

There was a footage taken by an Indonesian cameraman but it was taken from a long distance away making it impossible for the Asiad officials to make a definitive judgment.

The cycling commissioners then rejected the complaint saying the camera was not an official one. Besides, the footage was not of good enough quality to make any decision, they said.

Thursday will see Indonesian men's cyclists Tonton Susanto and Suwandra taking part in the men's individual road race on the same circuit.

Tonton failed to contribute a medal on Monday in the men's individual time trial, losing his race to three Central Asian cyclists. He finished fourth after the cyclists from the former Soviet republics of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyztan and Kazakhstan.

Meanwhile, Tanti can thank her lighter bodyweight for earning her the bronze medal in the women's 58-kilometer weightclass division at Pukyong University.

Tanti lifted a total of 212.5 kilograms as did Shwe Sin Win of Myanmar. Tanti, however, was awarded the bronze medal given her lighter weight of 57.20 kilograms compared to Shwe Sin Win's 57.35 kilograms.

China's Zhou Yan won the gold medal with a total lift of 220.0 kilograms while Kameaim Wandee of Thailand won the silver with 215.0 kilograms.

Tanti made a snatch lift of 92.5 kilograms while her clean-and-jerk lift was 120.0 kilograms.

"I am not satisfied with the result because actually I could do better," said Tanti.

"I lost my concentration somewhat on my second attempts in both the snatch and clean-and-jerk lifts."

Tanti also said that she did not have enough warming-up time while she had to wait for a long time before making her lifts.

Meanwhile, coach Lukman stressed that both Lisa and Tanti had similar problems with their snatch lifts.

"We will have to work more on their muscle strength, especially in extending their arms to clear the snatch lifts," he said.

"But she tried her best although she was able to lift 215.0 kilograms during a training session."

Another weightlifter, Erwin Abdullah, will try to produce his best lift to take Indonesia's first gold medal in the men's 69- kilogram weightclass division.

"Erwin has the potential to contribute a gold medal as his lift is the second best among the competitors.

"But we must really watch out the lifters from South Korea and China," said Lukman.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's rowers failed to contribute a single medal on Wednesday.

Rower Pere Karoba could only finish fourth in the women's singles sculls event clocking 9:55.79, although she was expected to take the bronze medal in the race on the Nakdong river.

An even worse result was carded by Jamaluddin, who only managed to finish fifth in the men's lightweight singles sculls event, recording a time of 7:27.80.