Hamdiah comes to fore in archery meet

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

National archer Hamdiah won four golds to help the East Kalimantan team go to the front with five gold medals in the medal hunt at the ongoing National Archery Championship at the Bung Karno Sports Stadium here on Wednesday.

The second day of the championship provided 12 gold medals in the FITA double round competition.

While Hamdiah lived up to her high-status tag, it was a low- key performance by the archers in general, according to former star Donald Pandiangan.

Hamdiah's three golds came from the women's 70 meter and 50 meter and her overall score of 2,468 in the individual competition. Teaming up with Hera Astuti and Rini Indriyani, she also contributed a gold in the team event's competition.

The other gold came from the women's 60 meter, courtesy of Hera Astuti, who scored 612 to beat former Olympic silver medalist Kusumawardhani.

The team added two silvers and a bronze to its medal tally.

The Central Kalimantan team came in second place with three golds, one silver and three bronzes.

The gold medals for Central Kalimantan were all presented by national archer Lockoneco, who won in the men's 30 meter and 90 meter and from his overall score of 2,539 points.

Despite his hat trick, Lockoneco admitted to having yet get into the competition after a long lay-off from his Asian Games participation.

"I only just resumed training in February and feel like I am fumbling the bow," he said.

East Java was in third place with two golds followed by Central Java and host Jakarta, with one gold apiece.

East Java flourished in the men's 70 meter and team event, with Hendra Setiawan being the team's ace.

Happy earned Jakarta's only gold in the women's 30 meter, while Permadi Sandra did his best in the men's 50 meter for the Central Java team.

Meanwhile, Donald, who dominated the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games from 1977 to 1987, lamented the modest performance by the athletes given that on the second day of competition only a few managed to score 1,270 or 1,280.

"It would be too much to expect a 1,300 given the current condition of the athletes, but even 1,270 or 1280 turned out to be a rare feat for them," Donald said.

Donald put it down to the leniency of the coach toward the athletes.

"Tournaments or tryouts are important, but what is important is how the coach handles the athletes during training. We should be a bit stern in coaching for the sake of mental toughness," he said.

The remaining two days of the competition will contest national and traditional events.