Karate heroes hope gold will inspire others

Moch. N. Kurniawan The Jakarta Post, Mandaue City, Cebu, the Philippines

Fortune smiled on Nurahmi K.S., the hero of Sunday's women's team victory in kumite, who credited a positive attitude for helping her in an unexpected win.

"This gold is certainly a morale booster for me and other athletes to win more golds for the country," said the young woman from Makassar.

Although Nurahmi was not considered one of the strongest members of the team, she stepped up to provide a decisive 4-0 victory in the final.

Team coach Ardy Ganggas termed the gold a penglaris -- a term used by trader's for an auspicious sale -- and bodes well for future successes for the national contingent.

"I just fought with an optimistic attitude," said Nurahmi, who is employed by a bank in her hometown of Makassar.

Nurahmi will fight again in the women's individual kumite open weight division on Tuesday. A second gold would be an ideal birthday present for her, as she turns 25 on the day.

Indonesian Karate-do Federation (Forki) chairman Luhut Pandjaitan praised Nurahmi's enthusiasm during the bouts.

"I am very pleased with the performance of our athletes. Even athletes that we actually do not expect to win, like Nurahmi and Donny Dharmawan, performed brilliantly today and had decisive victories," Luhut said.

Nurahmi win looked to inspire men's karateka Donny, who also posted a 7-2 defeat of Malaysian Jervis Anak Julian, thus ensuring the second gold for Indonesia.

"I think that overcame Malaysia in the final because we had a very good strategy and good technique," Donny said.

"I had to make the first point before my opponent, and that's what I did. This make my job easier as I could wait for the Malaysian attack before making a rapid counterattack."

Donny, 21, still expects to win one gold in individual kumite in the 60 kilogram division on Tuesday.

"That is my personal target," he said.

Fellow karatekas Jeanny Zeannet, a two-time silver medalist in the SEA Games in 2001 and 2003, and Telly Melinda were also hopeful the gold would lead to many more."

"We won the gold today, which is my first gold in the SEA Games, and I hope I could win more," said Jeanny.