Little gold glitters for Indonesia on day six
Little gold glitters for Indonesia on day six
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post/Manila
With only five gold to show from its 34 events on Friday,
Indonesia looked increasingly certain to suffer the humiliation
of finishing outside the top three in the overall medal standings
at this year's Games.
The lone bright spots were contributed by weightlifter Sandow
Nasution, veteran women's judoka Endang Sri Lestari, windsurfer
Oka Sulaksana and, in late reports from Cebu City, men's pencak
silat athlete Eko Wahyudi in the men's singles final and the
women's team.
However, Asian Games champion Oka's win in the Olympic class
at Subic Bay Yacht Club was the subject of a protest from the
host team.
There was a strong showing on the tennis courts, with an all-
Indonesian final in the women's singles, and in badminton, where
Indonesia set up three certain golds in Saturday's finals.
There had been little else to cheer about on the day, with the
national soccer team crashing out to perennial champions Thailand
in Bacolod City.
As of 9 p.m., Indonesia's 29 golds put it in a distant fifth
place in the medal standings, behind Malaysia, with the
Philippines, almost certain to win its first ever overall title,
ahead of Vietnam and Thailand in the top three.
National sports officials were tightlipped when asked to
comment on the situation, which promises to be the worst finish
for Indonesia since it joined the Games in 1977.
Chairman of the National Sports Council (KONI) Agum Gumelar
refused to comment after national tenpin bowlers failed to add to
their earlier three gold in Paranaque City.
After the golden start, the cycling team ended up with a
silver, with Samai finishing second behind Suhardi Hassan in the
178-kilometer Mass Start in Tagaytay, while defending champion
Santia Tri Kusuma and Uyun Muzizah missed out on the top three.
Traditional boat race competitors came second behind
Philippines, both in the 10 A-Side and 20 A-side events.
Richard Sambera, champion in the 100 meters freestyle earlier
in the week as he nears the grand old age of 34 this month, was
67 hundreths of a second behind Thailand's Arwut Chinnapasaen,
who set a new SEA Games record of 22.98 seconds in the 50-meter
freestyle.
Another veteran swimmer, Singapore's Joscelin Yeo, won her
fifth gold medal of the Games, this time with a little help from
her friends.
Yeo, who had won four previous individual swim golds, was part
of the Singapore 4x100 medley relay team that finished first
Friday, putting her within one of the six she won two years ago
at Vietnam when she was named the top athlete of the Games.
The 26-year-old Yeo, who has competed in every Olympics for
Singapore since 1992, will have a chance to equal her 2003 mark
if she wins the 50-meter freestyle on the final night of swimming
Saturday, The Associated Press reported.
Saturday will provides a total of 45 gold medals: swimming
(6), archery (4), arnis (4), badminton (5), billiards and snooker
(2), chess (2), cycling (6), soccer (1), gymnastics (1), judo
(4), shooting (2), table tennis (3), tennis (2), weightlifting
(3).