East Java hard to track at top position at PON

East Java hard to track at top position at PON

By Ivy Susanti

SURABAYA (JP): Fifteenth National Games (PON) host East Java
raced ahead with 69 golds, 46 silvers and 44 bronzes in the medal
tally, leaving its rivals far behind.

Defending champion Jakarta trailed in at second position with
42 golds, 39 silvers and 45 bronzes. There was a narrow margin
between second and third, with West Java taking 34 golds, 33
silvers and 43 bronzes.

Deputy chief of the Jakarta contingent, Sutardiono, said
Jakarta would have difficulty taking the top position.

"It will be hard to top the medal tally as competing athletes
in the remaining events have equal skills. Some athletes failed
to achieve targets set earlier. For example, we targeted three
golds in karate but we only got two," he said on Saturday.

Sutardiono expressed hope that Jakarta athletes could
contribute more medals. "We are still counting on a sports event
in which we'll get gold medals."

Meanwhile, the Olympic Games qualifiers started to show their
qualities.

Jakarta swimmer Felix C. Sutanto clocked 59.58 seconds in the
100m men's backstroke, bettering his own PON record of 59.84
seconds set in 1996.

Andi Wibowo of Central Java finished second at 01:00.67 while
Felix's twin brother Albert C. Sutanto, also from Jakarta, was
third with 01:01.02.

Women's swimmer Elsa Manora Nasution contributed two golds to
Jambi in her favorite events, 100m backstroke and 100m butterfly.
In the 100m backstroke, she clocked 01:06.99, followed by Delfina
Chandra of Jakarta with 01:10.62 and Maria Fransisca of West Java
with 01:11.28 in third place.

In the 100m butterfly, Elsa clocked one minute 04:87. Young
hopeful Shelomita of Jakarta was second with 1:05.36 and Dyah Ayu
Rahmani of East Java finished third with 1:06.01.

Elsa, Felix and Albert are participating in the Olympics
training program.

In the 4x100m men's freestyle relay, the Jakarta team of
Richard Sam Bera, Felix, Wisnu Wardhana and Albert grabbed the
gold after clocking 03:35.25, followed by East Java with
03:42.74. The bronze went to Central Java with 03:45.62.

In the track field, young star Irene Truitje Joseph of Maluku
ran for 24.25 seconds in the preliminaries of the women's 200m
dash event.

With the result, she also topped the 27-year-old PON record of
24.40 seconds set by her senior Carolina Rieuwpassa, a Maluku
native who defended Jakarta in the 1973 PON in Jakarta.

"It's not bad. I reached this time even though my left knee is
injured. I just had it massaged," said Irene.

Medal Tally (as of 9:30 p.m.)

Provinces Gold Silver Bronze
East Java 69 46 44
Jakarta 42 39 45
West Java 34 33 43
Central Java 18 23 27
Lampung 16 14 19
Jambi 10 6 7
North Sumatra 7 6 10
East Kalimantan 6 5 8
South Sulawesi 5 10 10
Bali 5 4 4
Papua 5 3 4
South Kalimantan 5 3 3
Southeast Sulawesi 4 1 3
South Sumatra 3 9 11
Riau 3 8 6
West Kalimantan 3 6 4
Yogyakarta 3 5 13
North Sulawesi 3 5 10
Central Kalimantan - 5 6
Maluku - 3 3
Bengkulu - 1 1
West Sumatra - 1 -
Aceh - - 7
East Nusa Tenggara - - 3
Central Sulawesi - - 1
West Nusa Tenggara - - 1