Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Manila
The badminton arena in Pasig City was a happy place for Indonesian shuttlers, who won four of five golds at stake on Saturday, and total of nine overall.
The only title eluding them was in the women's doubles when the team of Greysia Polii and Jo Novita was beaten by Wong Pei Tty and Chin Eei Hui of Malaysia 15-12, 9-15, 15-13.
Adrianti Firdasari completed their victory with an 11-8, 11-7 walloping over Wong Mew Choo of Malaysia. The three remaining finals were all-Indonesian affairs with Sony Dwi Kuncoro taming his younger compatriot Simon Santoso 17-16, 15-3 in the men's singles; Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir beating Anggun Nugroho and Yunita Tetty 15-6, 15-2 in the mixed doubles; and Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan upsetting veterans Alvent Yulianto and Luluk Hadiyanto 15-8, 7-15, 15-6.
Saturday's successes were likely a bit of redemption for the athletes after their heart-breaking loss to Malaysia in the men's team final.
Swimming, tennis, archery and judo also saw Indonesians at the top of their respective podiums, while the sailing team suffered a shocker after Oka Sulaksana's apparent win was overruled following a controversial decision from the referees at the request of the Filipino team. Oka will not likely be overjoyed by his silver medal.
"I will raise the issue with the international council of sailing. We are not going to pursue a reinstatement of the gold (for Oka), but we are looking for international support that rules must prevail," team manager Othniel Mamahit told The Jakarta Post.
The team members did not attend the medal ceremony in protest of the decision, according to Mamahit.
In the swimming pool Donny B. Utomo won the 200-meter butterfly and the quartet of Richard Sambera, Felix B. Sutanto, Ariski Darmadi and Donny were crowned champs of the 4x100 relay.
Peter Taslim was the strongest man in his division at the judo arena in Cebu City while Wynne continues her golden sweep through the SEA Games with the women's singles crown after winning the all-Indonesian final against doubles partner Romana Tedjakusuma.
Separately, in the unofficial team competition for medals, Indonesia has a total of 38 gold, 55 silver and 68 bronze medals, which puts the former sporting powerhouse well behind the host nation, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia to stay in fifth place.
Filipino fans and athletes are relishing their unprecedented success after clinching the top spot in the medal table.
The home team had 90 golds as of 10 p.m. on Saturday and Thailand was a distant second with 58 golden medallions.
Even President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo got in on the celebrations and praised her sportsmen and women.
"I share the joy and pride of our athletes and the Filipino people for our strong start in the Southeast Asian Games," Arroyo said.
"We take this as good omen as we strive for the overall championship this time on the back of the talent, skill and fighting spirit of the Filipinos," she added.
Filipinos are coming out to cheer on their teams in droves as well. At the tennis stadium, they fully packed the stands to cheer on tennis idol Cecil Mamiit to the men's singles title.
"Filipinos are champions. We will win more golds," said a teenager, his hand holding the Philippines flag.
The last time the country hosted the Games was 1977, and they came close to winning the overall championship until Indonesia -- once the dominant team in the SEA games -- overtook the hosts on the final day with a win in marathon to give Indonesia 92 gold, one more than the Philippines.