Jakarta back on top of national sporting gala

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post/Palembang

Jakarta reclaimed the National Games crown after finishing ahead of other provinces competing in the 16th Games -- which is held quadrennially -- here on Monday.

Jakarta -- which had been the dominant force until East Jakarta toppled it in 2000 -- topped the standings with 141 gold medals in the championship, which ran from Sept. 2.

Monday marked the end of the competition, although the closing ceremony will be staged on Tuesday.

The outgoing champion, East Java, had to settle for second place with 76 gold medals, meaning that the team narrowly escaped further embarrassment after trailing West Java throughout the championship.

West Java had an identical number of gold medals, but it achieved third place due to its inferior silver collection -- 77 compared to East Java's 79.

Central Java completed the domination of teams from Java by taking fourth place, with 55 golds followed by South Sumatra -- a distant fifth with 29 golds.

Jambi -- which emerged as the biggest medal winner in swimming -- Lampung -- which was a strong contender in weight lifting -- Papua, East Kalimantan and South Sulawesi made it to the top ten.

The defeat of East Java -- although it had been expected prior to the championship -- left the team complaining, partly over the reduced number of medals available in their favorite sports.

"We lost to Jakarta, partly due to the fact that the number of medals in our favorite sports, like archery and cycling, were sharply reduced," Irwantara Subagyo, a team official, said.

"For example archery medals were reduced from 33 to 22," he said.

"We have come short of meeting our medal target in some sports, like equestrian events, rowing and gymnastics," he added.

Jakarta continued its medal onslaught on Monday, when its kempo squad brought home five golds of nine on offer.

In addition, the team from the capital city stole two golds in the wrestling competition and one in tae kwon do.

Central Java won two and West Java took one -- which made the two equal in the tae kwon do gold haul, with six medals each.

Aceh ended its competition with another two golds in weight lifting.

The wins were hailed by the Acehnese team, with Rayuan Sukma, the deputy chairman of the Aceh chapter of the National Sports Council (KONI) announcing cash bonuses for its successful athletes.

"Rp 40 million is allocated for a gold medalist. Some bonuses will be given to those who can break records in the Games," he said.

Overall, Lampung lived up to its status as the country's weight lifting stronghold by collecting five of 15 golds on offer.

Although all 41 sports completed their matches, the medal winner in soccer is yet to be sealed after the final match between East Java and Papua was scraped due to poor floodlights -- the two teams were left tied at 1-1.