Indonesia triumphs in SEA rowing

JAKARTA (JP): Junior athletes spurred the Indonesian team on to triumph in the fourth Southeast Asian Rowing Championship in Pasir Ris, Singapore over the weekend.

Budiman Setiawan, secretary-general of the Indonesian Rowing Association, said in his release yesterday that the national male and female rowers won the two prestigious events on the final day, Sunday, to complete their medal haul of eight golds, five silvers and four bronzes.

The Philippines finished a distant second with four golds, two silvers and two bronzes, followed by Myanmar which collected two golds, four silvers and five bronzes.

A total of 109 rowers from six ASEAN members and Cambodia joined the three-day competition. The annual event will move to Indonesia next year.

The Southeast Asian Rowing Federation also held a congress simultaneously with the competition. The congress elected Rear Admiral (ret.) Sumartono the new chairman of the confederation.

The congress also criticized Thailand for not adopting rowing in the medal events for the 18th SEA Games, slated for Dec. 9 to 17 in Chiang Mai. Thailand took only a bronze in Pasir Ris.

The upcoming SEA Games will have seven gold medals at stake in traditional boat races, instead of rowing. Indonesia played down its formidable clean sweep in the previous Games, saying that it now sets its sights on just four golds in Chiang Mai. (amd)