Java remains dominant force at PON
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post/Palembang
The 16th National Games officially came to close here on Tuesday with Vice President Hamzah Haz calling for teams outside Java to pursue their efforts to catch up with their Java's rivals.
"Congratulation to South Sumatra which has been successful to hold this National Games," Hamzah said during the closing ceremony at the Sriwijaya Stadium inside the Jakabaring sports compound.
South Sumatra emerged as the most gold winner outside Java with 30 to finish in fifth place in the event.
Though, its gold haul was still far behind fourth-placed Central Java, which collected 56 golds.
Jakarta returned to its perch with a formidable collection of 141 gold followed by outgoing champion East Java and West Java.
East Java and West Java finished with an equal gold haul of 76 but the former champion had more silvers -- 81 compared to West Java's 79.
Jakarta's success left the team beaming.
"We have met our target of winning between 130 to 160 gold medals," Taufik Yudhi Mulyanto, a team's official, said separately.
A total of 625 gold, 625 silver and 790 bronze medals were distributed to 30 participating provinces which competed in 41 sports from Aug. 30 to Sept. 13.
One record world was shattered in powerlifting courtesy of Sutrisno, who improved his own record from 715 kilograms to 725 kilograms.
However, overall the championship looked lackluster with only a few new record breakings.
Powerlifting appeared to be most productive with 45 national records in 19 division having been shattered. New three national records were set weightlifting, five in swimming, four in shooting and only one in track and field. 34 new Games record were also set.
The result had came to a mockery to Hamzah's dream that Indonesia would be able to break into world's top ten in the future.
Tuesday's ceremony was marked with procession of athletes grouped according to their sports.
At 8:30 p.m. Hamzah declared the event close after which fireworks were released and the sell-out spectators at the 35,000-capacity stadium were entertained by a series of dance and song shows.
The championship left a sour note as the organizers were still unable to decide the winner in soccer between East Java and Papua.
Tied at 1-1 on Monday's final, the two teams played the 2x15- minute extra time, but the match was stopped to the absence of floodlight at Patrajaya stadium. The two teams refused to play out the remaining time, insisting that they were declared co- winners.
The closing ceremony was marked with the hand over of the National Games flag from South Sumatra Governor Syahrial Oesman to his East Kalimantan counterpart Suwarna AF.
East Kalimantan will host the 2008 National Games.