East Java dominates, Olympic qualifiers win and lose

By Ivy Susanti

SURABAYA (JP): Host East Java demonstrated its domination during the second day of competition at the 15th National Games (PON), increasing its medal haul to 21 golds, 10 silvers and 13 bronzes.

East Java's impressive performance easily outpaced defending champion Jakarta, whose eight golds, eight silvers and 14 bronzes moved it to third behind West Java, which has claimed nine golds, nine silvers and nine bronzes.

The competition on Wednesday also saw a number of national women athletes being groomed for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney swallow the bitter pill of defeat.

Women's archer Hamdiah, an Olympic hopeful, could not hide her disappointment after failing to earn a medal for East Kalimantan in the FITA round of the women's individual target event.

Fellow Olympic hopefuls Lusia Elizabeth Sumampouw of Jakarta and Purnama Pandiangan of Lampung earned a gold and a bronze respectively in the 70-meter target event.

Lusia scored a 314 while Purnama had a 311, the same score earned by Rosena Gelanteh of West Java, who took the silver.

Another member of the Olympics training program, IGAP Wulan B, also failed to earn a medal. All four of the national archers failed to secure medals in the 60m, 50m and 30m target events.

Hamdiah blamed her poor results on the wind. "I'm very disappointed because I couldn't win any medals for my province. But I'm not accustomed to the atmosphere here. The wind is completely different from the Senayan range in Jakarta, where I train every day. Moreover, I only practiced for two days and it wasn't enough."

Her performance was so poor that Hamdiah suggested the Indonesian Archery Association (Perpani) reconsider her participation in the Olympics.

"Coach Lee Kang-hyun said PON was only training for us. But due to my poor results, I'll suggest to him and Perpani officials that they choose better archers for the Olympics. I'm not the one who must go, but the best archers must. I wanted to win this event and I trained hard, but God did not give me the victory," she said.

In the tae kwon do arena, Juana Wangsa Putri, who has qualified for the Olympics, earned gold in the women's flyweight division with a narrow 6-5 victory over Regina Maya.

Juana's South Korean coach Oh Il-nam said: "She's still the best. She will recover to reach her peak form."

In the semifinals, Juana outclassed junior fighter Rahadewi Neta of East Java, who is also being trained for the Olympics. Neta shared the bronze with Yunizar of North Sumatra.

"Winning and losing is common in every match. Neta performed very good but she lacks experience. In the long term, she can be a champion," Juana said.

Neta's brother Satrio Rahardani grabbed the gold in the men's flyweight division, overcoming Thomas M. of Maluku despite a protest.

Old hand Andrie Halim of West Java claimed the gold in the men's heavyweight division by defeating Tulus Abdiansyah of North Sumatra, while Ratna Marleni won the gold for Lampung in the women's heavyweight division by beating Santi Agustina of West Java.

Selected medal tally: Provinces G S B East Java 22 10 13 West Java 9 9 9 Jakarta 8 8 14 Lampung 5 4 5 North Sumatra 4 3 3 Yogyakarta 3 2 5 Jambi 2 3 4 South Sulawesi 2 6 8 Papua 2 2 2 South Kalimantan 2 1 1