Indonesian archer steals the thunder
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian Gatot Ariyanto sprang a surprise at the national archery championships yesterday when he put out top seed Jackson Fear of Australia in their quarterfinal duel.
Gatot's impressive run, continued into the semifinals scheduled for completion yesterday, came to a premature halt due to an hour of heavy rain, which drenched the pitch. The semifinals matches will continue today.
Gatot, playing under the banner of East Java, out pointed Fear 103-94 in the New Olympic Round men's individual event for a place in today's semifinal against another Australian, fourth seed Matt Gray.
Indonesia hopes to steal even more thunder through Gatot because other local hopefuls were swept aside by the mighty Chinese. National number one Hendra Setijawan, seeded sixth here, made it to the quarterfinals, only to crash to third seed Fu Shengiun 99-110.
Fu set up an all-China affair in the semifinal against second seed Li Xian Wu, who edged out another compatriot Sun Wei 104-98.
"Gatot deserves distinguished credit for his bid for a place in our national team for the World Championships next August," Udi Harsono, deputy secretary of the Indonesian Archery Association, said. The association will pick only four athletes for the Aug. 1-Aug. 6 world meet.
The national championships underway at ABC field, Senayan, serve as a warm-up for the 38th World Championships. China, Australia and Singapore are taking part in the national event as non-competitors.
China confirmed its superiority in the women's division as its Asian Games gold medalists swept all top three spots. China left another semifinal berth for Indonesian Dahliana, who had to be content with fourth place.
East Kalimantan's Dahliana upset national number one Rosena Gelanteh of West Java 101-94 in the quarterfinal to set up a semifinal duel against Chinese top seed He Ying. China's He was forced to labor to outlast Dahliana's stiff challenge on her way to a close 107-103 win.
The top seed also battled it out in the final, but failed to survive. She bowed out to teammate and second seed Wang Xiaozhu. Another cliff-hanger was also on stage in the playoff for third place, when Lin Sang beat Dahliana 103-101.
The heavy rain served as a warning to the organizers who are going to play host to the world championships for the first time. "We have yet to find the right clues to help us avoid possible unfriendly weather during the world meet," Udi said.
The Meteorological office forecasts rain between Aug. 4 and Aug. 6. (amd)