Indonesia fails to archieve medal target in Asiad

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Busan, South Korea

The world's second largest sporting event was officially closed on Monday evening with Indonesia finishing in 14th place after the 16-day Busan 2002 Asian Games, collecting four gold, seven silver and 12 bronze medals.

The Indonesian contingent failed to fulfill the target set by the National Sports Council (KONI) of doing better than in the Bangkok 1998 Asiad, when Indonesia garnered six gold, 10 silver and 11 bronze medals.

As expected, China topped the list at the quadrennial sporting event, collecting 150 gold medals, 84 silvers and 74 bronzes.

Badminton's men's singles player Taufik Hidayat saved the Indonesian badminton team after winning the final match 15-7, 15- 9 against South Korean shuttler Lee Hyun-il at the Gangseo Gymnasium in the Gangseo Sports Park.

Another Indonesian athlete, I Gusti Gde Karang Asem, could only finish 11th in the men's marathon clocking 2:34:30 on the last day of the Games.

Host runner Lee Bong-ju grabbed the second last gold medal of the 14th Asiad with a commanding record time of 2:14:04, while Japanese runners Shimizu Koji and Takei Ryuji won the silver and bronze medals with 2:17:47 and 2:18:38 respectively.

Earlier in the morning, Indonesian chef-de-mission Rudolf S. Warouw admitted that the Indonesian contingent had failed to fulfill its target.

"We have failed to improve our performance when compared to the Bangkok Asiad. But I will take full responsibility," he told Indonesian reporters.

The Busan Asiad was officially closed by an impressive ceremony in the Busan Asiad Main Stadium, containing an extravaganza of cultural performances, and fireworks and light shows.

While the opening ceremony took as its theme A Beautiful Meeting, the organizing committee picked the Lighting up the Road to Home theme for the closing ceremony.

The cultural performance was followed by the raising of the flags of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), the South Korean Tae- keuk-gi national flag and the flag of Qatar.

The Qatari capital of Doha will host the 15th Asiad from Dec. 1 to Dec. 16, 2006.

The torch, which has burned throughout the 16-day long Busan Asian Games, was finally extinguished. The torch was put out against an acoustic backdrop of boat and train whistles, horns and the sound of triumphant cries.

Good bye Busan. See you in Doha.