Irene upsets Roberts to become fastest woman

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (JP): Irene Truitje Joseph of Indonesia and Reanchai Srihavong of Thailand were crowned the fastest woman and man of the region after winning the 100-meter sprints at the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games on Sunday.

Irene upset world number 13, Trecia Roberts of Thailand, to clock 11.56 seconds, 11 hundredths of a second faster than the old national record set by Henny Maspaitella in 1985.

The gold medal is the first for Indonesia in the women's 100m since it joined the Games 22 years ago.

Roberts, who was in the spotlight before the Games opened, finished five hundredths of a second behind Irene for the silver, while teammate Supavadee Khawpeag took the bronze with 11.75.

Srihavong maintained Thailand's supremacy in the sprint event with a record-breaking time of 10.26 seconds. He shattered his predecessor Summet Promna's 12-year-old mark of 10.36.

Another Thai runner, Vissanu Sophanich, clocked 10.39 to earn the silver and Malaysian Watson Nyambek was third with 10.45 for the bronze.

Indonesia's Asian Games gold medalist Supriati Sutono found no serious challenge in winning the women's 5,000m, the second gold of the day for her country. She managed to clock 17 minutes 12.98 seconds, which was 1.73 slower later than her personal best in the 1995 Games.

Her closest rival, Viraiwan Kumpitak of Thailand, ran 17:55.47 for the silver.

Thailand took its second gold through Jirasak Suthichat who won the 3,000m steeplechase in 9:3.96. Krasaeyan Juthaporn gave Thailand the third gold in the shot put with a throw of 17.85 meters.

Irene, who also ran 11.56 in the semifinals, said she was surprised with the results.

"I'm surprised, I'm proud and I'm happy to contribute a historic gold medal for Indonesia," she said.

Roberts attributed her defeat to her slow start.

"My start was late and I tried to catch her at the end of the race but it didn't help. I was ready for this match. It's just because of the late start," said the half-American Thai.

Late start

Irene said she had anticipated Roberts' late start.

"I knew that she usually had late starts and I convinced myself that I could start better than her, although I also tend to do the same thing," she said.

"But I've worked real hard to improve my start and I kept telling myself that my start must be better than hers."

"When Roberts only clocked 11.67 in the semifinals, I was confident that I could beat her."

Coach Pieter Noya said: "I'm not surprised because I have compared Irene's form with Trecia's last form in the Singapore Open last month."

"Irene was 95 percent prepared for the event. The remaining 5 percent depended on her mental preparation and apparently she was ready for her big day."

Srihavong shared the same joy as Thailand had never won a gold since 1987.

"I'm really proud to be able to bring home the SEA Games gold medal. I'm really fit for the race," said the 1995 Games gold medalist.

Supriati's coach Nicky Pattiasina said Supriati had accomplished her mission of winning golds in the biennial event.

"I don't force her to break records as her left leg was still injured. But I'm sure she can still run well on Tuesday for the 1,500 meters and on Wednesday for the 10,000 meters," she said.

In the men's discuss, Wong Tuck Yim James of Singapore won the gold with 59.5 meters followed by Sawusdee Wunsawang of Thailand with 50.4 and Dao Dan Tieng of Vietnam with 47.75.

Veteran Elma Posadas of the Philippines also won the gold in the women's long jump with 6.34 meters followed by Nguyen Bich Van of Vietnam with 6.27 and Lerma Elmira Bulauitan of the Philippines with 6.27. (yan)