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