Indonesia off to winning start in int'l karate event
Musthofid The Jakarta Post Jakarta
The Tiger team won two golds while their fellow Indonesians grouped in the Buffalo team took one on the opening day of the Indonesia Open at the Bung Karno Tennis Indoor in Jakarta on Tuesday.
It appeared to be the 'Tigress' who stole the spotlight with their two golds in the team's kata and kumite events.
Indonesian trio of Anneke Enoch Flenty Meity Enoch and Rahayu Novita were too strong for their Myanmarese opponents, winning 5- 0 in the final of the women's team kata.
In the team kumite, which featured only two teams, Telly, Beatris Payung, Imas Nurhayati, Lenny Pirsoun and Angela Fitri Damarsari were involved in a tight match against the Buffallo squad before winning 3-2.
The Buffalo team made amends its failure in the women's by triumphing in the men's at the expense of Saudi Arabia on an "easy" 3-1 victory.
"It was beyond our expectation that we could send Arab Saudi down easily," team manager Indra Nasution told a press conference after the match.
However, Indra's statement aside, the home team was dealt an initial fright when Sonny Simangasing failed to match Abdullah Dhamadi, in which the Indonesian was swept down to the floor twice and needed medical treatment on his face.
After Bambang Maulidin drew with Khaled Falatah in the second tie, Arif Taufan Syamsudin evened the score with his 10-3 win over Amer Balgsem.
Team's debutante Yuiadi Putra Warang built Indonesia's lead with a 3-1 defeat of Abdullah Alaseery before veteran Hasan Basri sealed dominated Merei Albeshi 4-0 in the final tie for an overall 3-1 victory.
Indra looked relieved by the success he put down to the workable strategy as well as solid teamwork.
"The key to the success lay on Arif and Hasan," he said about two of the national team members now preparing for the 2002 Asian Games.
"We did prepare both players to play a decisive role. The younger members also showed that they could fight along with their seniors," he said.
"I have to admit the Arabian contenders are over use both skills and power. But they did not seem to have their strategy worked out," he added.
Malaysia was the only other team ending the opening day with a gold, courtesy of its women's team kumite squad comprising Sri Rajarajeswari, S. Premila, and Agnes Tan Sze Ching.
The three-day tournament, with 16 countries taking part, will begin competition in the individual events on Wednesday.