Indonesia wins four golds at Arafura Games

By Primastuti Handayani

DARWIN, Australia (JP): Indonesia's second string athletes successfully won four gold, six silver and six bronze medals in the second day of the Arafura Games yesterday.

Silvy Triana clocked 2:28.55 to win the gold in the 200 meters women's individual medley and compatriot Kevin Rose Nasution took the bronze with 2:32.38. The silver went to host swimmer Kerry Lee Taylor with 2:30.10.

Silvy set a new record, 1.45 seconds faster than the old record produced by Megan Fanning of the Northern Territory in 1988.

Silvy won another gold in the 200m backstroke with 2:26.57 seconds. Caroline Pickering of Fiji finished second with 2:32.61 while host swimmer Taylor took the bronze with 2:32.94.

In the 50m freestyle, Silvy shared second place with Taylor after finishing in 28.05 seconds. Caroline Pickering of Fiji set a new record of 27.5, 1.11 seconds faster than the old record set by Bridget O'Brien of the Northern Territory in 1993.

Darlene Rahmawati finished first with 36.73 in the 50m breaststroke, followed by Jennifer Pierce of Northern Mariana Islands with 37.82 and Zenia Peni of Papua New Guinea with 38.10.

Darlene also won the 200m individual medley in the 13-14 age group after clocking 2:35.84 seconds. The host's Byrannon Gray and Namiko Koayashi of Papua New Guinea finished second and third in 2:35.93 and 2:36.54 respectively.

In the men's 200m freestyle, national swimmer Kristian Johanes and Donny Utomo finished second and third. Kristian clocked 2:01.60 while Donny set 2:02.82.

The gold went to host swimmer Ian Vander Wal who finished in 1:56.23 seconds.

Kristian and Donny also won the silver and bronze in the 50m butterfly stroke with 26.34 and 26.69 respectively. Vander Wal took another gold with 25.9 seconds.

Darminah, the National Games winner, won silver in the women's discus at the Arafura Stadium in the Marrara Sports Complex with 42.06 meters.

Darminah, whose best record was 41.88, said she was satisfied with her results.

Mei Hong of China won the gold with 50.44 meters, which broke the Arafura Games record of 41.78 meters. Tea Ai Seng of Brunei Darussalam took the bronze with 37.14 meters.

Women's sprinter Rabaiya, also the National Games winner, and men's sprinter Achmad Nursianto only finished fourth in the women's and men's 100 meter finals.

Rabaiya clocked 12.28 seconds, worse than her personal best of 11.95. Nursianto set the time of 10.79, 13 seconds behind his personal best.

The gold went to Nova Peris-Kneebone, the Games' torchbearer at the opening ceremony, who clocked 11.66 seconds.

Anh Hoang Thi Lan Anh of Vietnam took the silver with 11.82 seconds while another host sprinter Natasha Martin won the bronze with 12.28 seconds.

Patrick Johnson of the Northern Territory won the gold in the men's 100 meters after clocking 10.39 seconds. Thanh Tran Xuan Than of Vietnam took the silver with 10.62 and Ma Haji Serudin of Brunei Darussalam finished third in 10.67 to take the bronze.

The Indonesian men's softball team repeated its success in the first day after defeating Northern Marianas 4-3 in the first match and host Northern Territory 6-0 in the second at the Garden Ovals.

Pitcher Ardiansyah controlled the ball well and only allowed the host team to hit four for the game.

The women's team had its first victory against host Northern Territory 4-3.

The host team led 3-0 until the seventh innings when the Indonesian girls fought from behind to tie the game 3-3. In the eighth innings, Indonesia's Viena RH scored a run to win 4-3.

Unfortunately Indonesia's initial success did not follow, losing to Chinese Taipei 0-6.

The Indonesian men's sepak takraw also had two victories yesterday at the Marrara Indoor Stadium.

In the first match, the national squad defeated host Northern Territory 15-3, 15-5 and in the second match beat Japan 15-0, 15- 6.

So far in the eight-day games, three coaches and five officials have suffered headaches due to the heat.