East and West Java share volleyball glory

JAKARTA (JP): East Java and West Java both won gold medals in volleyball at the 14th National Games yesterday, taking radically different routes to victory.

The East Java women's team rebounded after being one set down to post a 14-16, 16-14, 15-9, 15-9 successful title defense, after seeing their male teammates and title holders suffer a 9- 15, 7-15, 7-15 drubbing by arch rival West Java in the volleyball finals in front of a capacity crowd at the Senayan Indoor Stadium.

Earlier yesterday morning, Jakarta won both men's and women's bronze medals. National team captain Imam Agus Faizal led the Jakarta men's team to victory over Yogyakarta in straight sets 15-12, 15-5, 15-8 in a one-sided match.

In the women's division, Jakarta dropped a set before overcoming a feisty North Sulawesi 15-11, 15-13, 5-15, 15-12 in an entertaining match.

The East Java women's team, which received most of the crowd's support, started badly. It wasted a game point to let West Java take the first set after a series of mistakes.

The second set was nearly a carbon-copy of the first, but experience helped the defending champion score an equalizer.

West Java took a slender lead at 8-6 in the third set, but East Java stepped up the pace to win five successive points off Astuti's serves.

Buoyed by the two-set sweep, East Java sped to an 8-3 lead in the deciding set. The West Java team came back strongly with a last-gasp effort to pull level at 9-9, before East Java forced faster play to clinch the match.

It took East Java two and a half hours to retain its volleyball title. East Java extended its victory celebrations when Lilin Lindawati was named the tournament's best woman player and setter.

The East Javanese players screamed with joy and tears. They were still crying when East Java governor Basofi Sudirman came down from his VIP seat to shake their hands.

"We should have won 3-0 but the players were too nervous, especially in the first set," coach Sutedjo said.

"Technically we are much better than West Java but high expectations to defend the title heavily burdened us," he said.

Sutedjo said he had instructed his players, 60 percent of whom are juniors, to play quickly to block West Java's taller players.

"It's difficult to combine senior and junior players in a team. Many of our serves went wide and it caused us to crack under pressure," he said.

Earlier yesterday, the West Java men's team had few problems beating defending champion East Java, which suffered lethargy.

Armed with hard and quick smashes, the West Javanese, who relied heavily on Risco and Oktavian, forced their opponents to deliver unforced errors.

East Java played well early in each set, but then ran out of steam against West Java's speed in the match which lasted one and a half hours. (yan)