Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Manila
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.