Indonesian climbers grab three titles at 10th Asian Championships

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesian speed climbers showed their might by staging all- Indonesian finals at the US$20,000 10th Asian Sports Climbing Championships at the Eastern Plaza of the Bung Karno Sports Complex, Central Jakarta on Sunday.

Toni Firmansyah grabbed top position in the men's speed event after clocking 24.27 (13.07, 11.20) seconds, defeating Rosyid Nurrahman who recorded a time of 25.77 (12.25, 13.52) seconds.

"I didn't expect I could win today especially since I had only two days of preparation in my hometown of Malang in East Java," Toni told reporters after his win.

"Moreover, this was the first time I've had to climb two different tracks. Usually, we only have to climb once," he added.

In the speed event, contestants climb two separate tracks simultaneously before switching tracks.

Miftahur Rahmat recorded a time of 25.11 (11.33, 13.78) seconds to earn third place, after Rozak Erianto could only manage 11.70 seconds and failed on the other track.

In the women's division, favorite Etti Hendrawati met the pundits' expectations by grabbing top place, clocking 33.56 seconds (14.42, 19.14) ahead of Evi Nelyawati who recorded 11.70 seconds but fell on the second track.

Etti managed to grab victory even though Evi had been leading at the halfway point. Etti also slipped several times during her climb.

"I am a slow starter and I'm always behind until halfway. But I always manage to catch up later," she told reporters.

"I also guess I was too nervous so I slipped several times. Every time I slipped I had to climb faster to make up for the time I'd lost," she added.

Meanwhile in the men's difficulty event, Eka Bayu Prabowo was the surprise winner reaching 25 meters. The difficulty event is usually dominated by climbers from South Korea and Japan.

South Korean Lee Jae-yoong was second, climbing less than 25 meters and Jou Chun-Ming was third, reaching 24 meters. Local favorite Ronald Mamarimbing was only seventh with a height of less than 20 meters.

In the women's division, South Koreans Kim Hyun-jun and Go Mi- sun grabbed first and second places, reaching 34 meters and 31 meters respectively, with a significant gap to the other contestants.

Huang Bai-Le of Chinese Taipei was third with 20 meters and Choi Sun-Yuk of Hong Kong was fourth reaching 17 meters. Local Yuyun Yuniar was fifth, also climbing 17 meters.