Indonesia gains two more golds in track and field

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (JP): Thailand and Malaysia continued their rivalry for track and field supremacy at the 20th Southeast Asian Games here on Tuesday, bagging four gold medals each on a day which saw only one meet record tumble.

Indonesia is virtually a spectator to the two-team tussle despite the gold medals of Supriati Sutono in the women's 1,500 meters and Games newcomer Ponsianus Kahol in the men's javelin.

Asian Games champion Supriati collected her second consecutive gold in four minutes, 28.57 seconds in a race which she led from the start. Khanh Doan Pham Dinh of Vietnam finished a distant second in 4:40.01, followed by her compatriot Thi Huyen Bui who clocked 4:40.99.

Supriati attributed her failure to better her personal best of 4:21.00 to the lack of competition.

"What can I say, I have no competitors here. The only certain thing is that I won the gold as expected," said Supriati, who also won gold in the 5,000m.

Malaysian Munusamy Arumugam took the men's 1,500m gold after running 3:51.86. John Lozada of the Philippines came in second (3:53.97) and Van Hoa Phan of Vietnam was third (3:56.92).

Kahol produced a winning debut with a throw of 67.49 meters, beating Malaysian Imran Mohd. Yazid (66.45m) and Boonjansri Thirdsak of Thailand (66.35).

"I'm not really surprised by taking the gold because my personal best is 68.90 meters," he said.

Irene Joseph failed in her bid for a double sprint title when Thailand's Supavadee Khawpeag sped home unnoticed for the gold. Women's 100m champion Irene was timed in 24.12 seconds, trailing Supavadee by 20 hundredths of a second. Another Thai, Natthaporn Wongtiprat, took the bronze in 24.57.

Irene admitted to using the wrong strategy by going all-out from the start, only to be passed in the final few meters.

"I was really shocked. I just could not catch up when all of sudden I saw her in front of me," she said.

"It's was so close to a win. I really regret it. I tried my best to run faster, but the weather was too hot and I felt my legs were weak."

Thailand's Reanchai Seeharwong won the men's 200m gold to crown himself the region's sprint king. Reenchai, who clinched the 100m dash on Sunday, clocked 20.69 seconds to beat Indonesia's best hope John Muray who was 0.36 of a second behind. Raman Ganeshwaran of Malaysia earned the bronze with 21.14.

John was pleased with his performance. "I'm glad I can win the silver and also improve my personal best of 21.37 seconds."

Record holder

Another silver for Indonesia came from Nyoman Rae Trisandiana in the women's triple jump. She jumped 13.42 meters, four centimeters behind gold medalist and new meet record-holder Sunisa Kawrungruang of Thailand. The bronze went to Nguyen Bich Van of Vietnam with 13.16.

In the hammer throw, Indonesia's Ong Kok Hin won the bronze with a throw of 48.80 meters. The gold went to Malaysian Tee Kue Wong who threw 55.50 and James Wong Tuck Yim of Singapore took the silver.

Malaysian earned a gold in the women's 400m hurdles from Norasheela Mohd Khalid (58.70 seconds). Second was Myanmarese Cherry who clocked 59.93 and Wassana Winatho of Thailand grabbed third in 1:00.23.

In the men's 400m hurdles, Thailand's Wirad Sarad won the gold (51.36 seconds), followed by compatriot Jirachai Linglomwith (51.38) and Phuong Duong of Vietnam (51.96).

Malaysian Kum Zee Loo contributed another gold for his country by clearing 2.21 meters in the men's high jump. His teammate Kam Sin Chuan completed the one-two finish with a height of 2.12. Sean Guevara of the Philippines was third with 2.08.

Indonesia is hoping to win two more golds from Supriati in the women's 10,000m and Ester Sumah in the women's 800m on the final day of the track and field program on Wednesday. (yan)