Indonesia drops to third in SEA Games medal standings
By Novan Iman Santosa
KUALA LUMPUR (JP): Indonesia had martial arts fighters Derry Dharmansyah and Sher Lie and veteran cyclist Nurhayati to thank for salvaging the country's pride in the second day of the 21st Southeast Asian Games here on Sunday.
The three athletes won gold medals in tae kwon do, wushu and women's cycling respectively on the day that Indonesia was totally let down in the rest of the events. Despite earlier victories, Indonesia dropped to third place in medal standings behind Malaysia and Thailand after it led the pack on opening day.
In contrast, host athletes stepped up their quest for the overall title, romping home with 14 top honors, mostly from the martial arts events, to clear the top of the table with 16 golds, four silvers and eight bronzes.
The host, aiming to take the overall title for the first time in over two decades, has a chance of moving further ahead on Monday as 46 more gold medals will be up for grabs in, among others, karate, wushu, tae kwon do and swimming.
Malaysia's big success in wushu, tae kwon do and karate left Indonesia crying over the standard of refereeing. There were two golds awarded in the men's jianshu in the wushu competition for Oh Poh Soon of Malaysia and U Pyi Wai Hhyo of Myanmar, and two silvers in men's changquan, also in wushu.
Sher Lie stole the show in Chinese martial arts, winning the women's jianshu with a score of 9.33. She beat Nguyen Thi My Duc of Vietnam by just 0.08.
Darry added another gold to the tally with a win over Jutapol Yodanyamaneewong of Thailand in the men's tae kwon do bantam weight final in Johor Bahru. The bronzes were shared by Benjamin Raj of Malaysia and Manuel Rivero of the Philippines.
In the women's bantam weight, local hopeful Elaine Teo lived up to fans' expectations to win the gold. She beat Vietnamese Pham Thi Phuong Quyen in the final. The bronzes went to Vorakorn Sinlapajarn of Thailand and Jasmin Strachan of the Philippines.
The host team continued its achievements in the men's featherweight, courtesy of S. Saravanan, who overcame Si Thu Win of Myanmar in the final. Punya Dissol of Thailand and Jefferthom Go of the Philippines had to be content with the bronzes.
Karate turned from a gold mine into a graveyard for Indonesians this time around. Of the seven golds on offer on Sunday, none went to Indonesia. It failed even in its favorite kata events, which were all won by Malaysia.
Indonesian coach Christine Taroreh blamed the new scoring system for the losses. Unlike in the past, judges made decisions after all the athletes completed their performances.
In the last event, Nurhayati proved her billing as the queen of cycling when she won the 20-kilometer point race with a score of 39. Finishing at a distant second was host cyclist Nur Azian Alias with 24 points, followed by Nurhayati's sister Nuraini who managed 23.
The swimming competition began on a low note on Sunday, with only one record broken in the seven events contested. The Singaporean quartet set the lone meet record of 7:38.82 en route to winning the 4x200m freestyle relay.
While Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand shared the honors, Indonesia's young team was left empty-handed. One Indonesian swimmer, Siripia Sutanto, was disqualified for a false start in the women's 100m freestyle. Singapore ace Josceline Yeo won the event, and went on to take her second gold of the day in the women's 200m individual medley.