Injury forces Susi to pull out of Games

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian badminton queen Susi Susanti was forced to forfeit her quarterfinal at the 14th National Games yesterday due to her foot injury.

Susi, who played for West Java, lost 10-12 to Yuni Kartika from Central Java in the first set but won the second 11-5. Defending champion Susi left the court in the deciding set after complaining about her sore left foot when the score was tied at 1-1.

"It seems that she did not warm up properly," Susi's coach Liang Chiusia said.

Yuni, Indonesia's second stringer who reached the Indonesian Open semifinals last month, will now meet Meiluawati of Jakarta, a 0-11, 12-10, 11-4 winner over Cindana from Central Java, for a place in the semifinals.

Olympic silver medalist Mia Audina of Jakarta experienced difficulties in the first set of her quarterfinal match against East Javanese Ika Henny Nursanti before sailing through with a 12-9, 11-2 win.

Mia will now take on her Uber Cup teammate Yuliani Sentosa of Central Java, who fought off a persistent challenge from Lidya Djaelawidjaya of West Java 11-7, 12-10.

The men's singles produced no surprises yesterday as the top four seeded players lined up in the semifinals.

World No. 2 Joko Suprianto of Jakarta had a relatively easy time beating Marleve Mainaky of West Java 15-11, 15-4 for a semifinal match against Hendrawan of Central Java, who edged out Asia champion Jeffer Rosobin of Riau 15-9, 15-8.

The other semifinal will pit Alan Budikusuma of East Java against Hermawan Susanto of West Java. Alan, seeded second in place of world champion Hariyanto Arbi of Central Java, who pulled out because of an injury, fought his way back to defeat Irwansyah of North Sumatra 1-15, 15-2, 15-2 yesterday. The North Sumatran upset Hariyanto in their men's team group match last week.

Hermawan, who beat Alan in West Java's 3-0 win over East Java for the men's team title on Saturday, broke no sweat in his 15-5, 15-1 routing of Dwi Aryanto of Central Java.

Archery

In the archery field, East Java and North Sumatra clinched a gold each in the penultimate day of the competition, which saw a national record tumble.

Wilson Pane earned North Sumatra a gold in the men's national round competition with a record-breaking total score of 517, beating Central Kalimantan Pranajaya's 12-month-old national mark by a mere point.

Wilson narrowly beat his national Southeast Asian Games teammate, Gatot Irianto of East Java, 106-105 in the final. Dito Rembrandt of Jakarta took the bronze, with a 103-101 win over another East Javanese, Hariyono, in the third-place playoff.

The women's final was also packed with thrillers as Foury Akadiani of East Java won the gold, only after overcoming her nerves in the shoot-off in her duel against Sri Handayani from Central Java.

Foury, whose advancement to the final included an upset win over Indonesia's Olympian Dahliana of East Kalimantan, hit a nine in the shoot-off against Handayani's eight to score an aggregate 111-110 win.

Dahliana had to be content with the bronze after defeating East Javanese Dwi Purwanti 104-99 in the third-place play-off.

Foury maintained her three-point lead over Handayani after the third quarter at 78-75, but lingered on a collapse after managing only three sevens. A consistent Handayani hit three nines to cause a deadlock at 102-102.

"I was too nervous after the second quarter, but thank God I regained my concentration and played more relaxed in the shoot- off," Foury said after the match.

The final day of archery today will feature Olympic round competitions, which offer two golds in the men's and women's individuals. (yan)

Medal tally

G S B Jakarta 105 63 63 West Java 55 66 60 East Java 52 64 54 Central Java 22 35 51 Lampung 17 18 28 Jambi 15 11 8 South Kalimantan 13 10 8 South Sulawesi 12 14 19 Irian Jaya 12 13 12 Central Kalimantan 11 11 11 North Sumatra 11 9 13 East Kalimantan 9 10 17 North Sulawesi 8 13 19 Southeast Sulawesi 8 3 8 Yogyakarta 6 10 14 Bali 6 9 14 West Kalimantan 6 5 4 South Sumatra 5 5 6 Maluku 4 6 12 Riau 4 3 7 West Sumatra 3 7 11 East Nusa Tenggara 3 2 1 Bengkulu 1 4 7 Central Sulawesi 1 1 3 East Timor 1 0 9 Aceh 1 0 6 West Nusa Tenggara 1 0 1