Judo meets target, weightlifting falls short
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."