Judo meets target, weightlifting falls short
Moch. N .Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Cebu City, the Philippines
Dependable Ira Purnamasari finished atop the podium on the last day of the judo competition at the Southeast Asian Games to help Indonesia meet its target of three gold.
Defending her gold in the women's above 78-kilogram division, Ira overcame Khin Myo Thu of Myanmar 2-0. Dinh Thi Diem Tuyen of Vietnam and Promtaeng Niramon of Thailand shared the bronze medal.
"I'd never met my opponent before as two years ago in Vietnam she lost in the semifinal. I am happy with my two consecutive gold medal victories," said Ira, who also won a bronze in 2001 in Malaysia and a silver in 1997 in Jakarta. National team manager Yorry Yance Worang was glad that the target was reached, especially after the loss of men's defending champion Krisna Bayu on Thursday in what the Indonesian team blamed on unfair refereeing.
"Don't forget, another gold should belong to us but Krisna Bayu lost controversially. We really should have four golds," he said.
He was also pleased by the promising performance of several young athletes, such as Toni Irawan, 19, who won silver on Sunday in the -55 kgs division.
Tony lost to Vietnamese Nguyen Puy Khan in the final.
Indonesian judoka Cliffia Sulistio also contributed bronze in the women's -78 kgs division. Pichaipat Patcharee of Thailand bagged the gold, followed by Dugaduga Ruth of the Philippines with silver.
In Bacolod City, national weightlifters fell short of their target of three gold.
Dedi Apriyanto in the men's +105-kg division and Sinta Darmariani in the women's -75-kg division contributed one silver and one bronze respectively on the last day of the weightlifting competition.
Overall, the team took two gold, three silver and one bronze.
"This turned out to be the best result for us," national weightlifting team manager Sonny Lumban Tobing said.
Dedi lifted 151 kgs in snatch and 185 kgs in clean and jerk for a total lift of 336 kgs, finishing behind Malaysian Che Mohd. Azrol Che Mat with a total lift of 350 kgs.
Sinta delivered bronze for Indonesia with a total lift of 228 kgs, behind Mya Sanda Oo of Myanmar who won gold with a lift of 240 kgs and Nguyen Thi Phuong Luan of Vietnam (231 kgs).
"I am proud with the fighting spirit of my athletes although they failed to meet the target," Sonny said.
"We do indeed have to prepare ourselves much better than this time to win more gold medals in international competition."