Java remains dominant force at PON

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.