Indonesia drops to third in SEA Games medal standings

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.