More golds for Jonathan as gymnastics ends

By Ivy Susanti

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's Jonathan Mangiring Sianturi continued his winning ways in the vault and high bar yesterday to reap a total six golds in the Games.

His only loss on the final day of gymnastics was a second- place finish behind close rival Amornthep Unchai of Thailand in the parallel bars on the final day of gymnastics.

"I am very happy with my performances and I thank God for today," Jonathan, 26, told The Jakarta Post. His other golds came in the team competition, all-around event, rings and floor exercise.

His five individual golds helped Indonesia finish first in the sport's medal standings -- seven golds, one silver, one bronze -- and to its best Games performance since 1989.

Amornthep gave Jonathan a fight, finishing second in high bar and third in the vault.

"I am very happy with the victory, and the competition was fair today," said Thai team manager Areekul NA Nakorn.

In the women's event, Filipina Pia Adelle Reyes, the unwitting subject of controversy throughout the Games, shared top honors with Vietnam's Nguyen Thi Nga in balance beam and Indonesia's Sherly Novitasari in the floor exercise.

Reyes originally placed second in the beam, but a protest by the Filipino camp led to a videotape review of her performance. Her score was subsequently increased for the tie with Nguyen.

Sherly won her first gold in the floor with the score of 8.850. Her teammate, Afrina Suryani Siahaan, who had been expected to win medals, performed poorly, finishing seventh in the beam and fifth in the floor exercise.

Team coach Iouri Kouznetsov said Afrina's floor routine was mediocre.

His major gripe, however, was with the judges

"I think the judging was unfair. It has been like that since the first day of the competition," the Russian-born coach said.

He attributed the daily disputes over scores to the judges, whom he accused of being inefficient.

"The local judges do not have enough knowledge and experience in score judging," he said.

Nguyen's gold in the beam -- the country's first in Games history -- came out of the blue.

The 16-year-old let out a yell of surprise when the scoreboard announced her as winner.

"I am very happy, I am so emotional that I want to cry," she said.

The Vietnam assistant chief of mission, Nguyen Hong Muihn, said the gold was "lucky".

He said training facilities in his country were still inadequate.

Sukma Anggraini of Indonesia was third in balance beam and Au Li Yen of Malaysia won the bronze in floor exercise.

"It is a good achievement since she has trained for less than a year," Kouznetsov said of Sukma's performance. (09)