Indonesian climbers excel in Asian X Games
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian athletes proved they are Asia's up- and-coming climbers with a win and two placings in the men's and women's speed categories at the Asian X Games on Phuket Island, in Thailand, yesterday.
Yuyun Yuniarti and Etha Hendrawati took out first and second places in the women's category, followed by the world's number eight, South Korean Go Mi Sun, in third and Japan's Rie Kimura in fourth.
In the men's category, Ronald Mamarimbing came second. But Japan's Yuji Hirayama, who won the men's difficulty on Friday, demonstrated his supremacy by winning the speed contest.
Korean Myong Hak-kim finished third while his compatriot Jung Jun-son took fourth.
Yuyun said she was thrilled that she could win the event and beat Mi Sun.
"I'm so glad. Thank God. I was not sure that I could win the competition because I knew that the Japanese and Korean climbers have always been the winners," she told The Jakarta Post over the telephone yesterday.
As the new champion for the speed category, Yuyun is entitled to US$4,600 in prize money, while Mi Sun, the winner in the difficulty category, and Etha will get $2,600 and $1,600 respectively.
Etha was happy with her placing but said she could have beaten her South Korean rival.
"I should have done better. I started better and faster than Mi Sun, but then I got very nervous after making some mistakes along the route."
In the speed category, each climber goes head-to-head with their competitors five times.
Both Yuyun and Etha said that competing in the speed category was the first time they had participated in the Games.
"In Indonesia, we do more (training) in difficulty than speed," Etha said.
Indonesian team manager Hendricus Mutter said yesterday he was satisfied with the climbers' achievements.
He said one of Indonesian male climbers, Nur Rosyid, could have won in the difficulty had the jury not taken the side of Yuji, a Japanese competitor, in an earlier race to the finish between Rosyid and the competition leader, Yuji.
"Yuji met Rosyid in the third effort. We saw that Rosyid touched seconds earlier than Yuji but the jury, most of whom are Japanese, said their watch record showed that Yuji climbed faster than Rosyid."
Hendricus said Yuji had himself admitted that Rosyid came first.
Yuyun, the winner of the speed category, is the only Indonesian climber to qualify for the 1998 X Games in San Diego, California, scheduled in June.
Yuyun must finance her trip to the U.S. competition herself because ESPN, a sports TV network, will not provide her with the ticket, Hendricus said.
"Hopefully, we'll get a sponsor to help us finance Yuyun's trip to California. The most important thing is for Yuyun to train intensively. Developing this sport (climbing) needs a lot of money." (cst)