Nabunome wins second gold for his province

JAKARTA (JP): Eduardus Nabunome of East Nusa Tenggara was clearly on the decline when he entered the 14th National Games (PON), but he can leave the sporting meet with a smile.

A hustling-turned-lazy Jakarta was about to wake up yesterday morning when Nabunome landed his province its only second gold medal, this time in the sport which has been under his control for the past decade, marathon.

Nabunome crossed the finish line in the sluggish time of 2 hours 25 minutes and 20.30 seconds, but he exerted tremendous effort in the process given that he, at 31 years old, was the oldest contender for the gold in the race.

The 1992 Asia marathon champion showed some of his old mastery when he won the final sprint in the last 150 meters over Southeast Asian Games champion Suyono of East Kalimantan and Sutarman of Jakarta.

Suyono, complaining about chronic injury to his right thigh, had to settle for the silver in 2:25:22.10, more than four minutes slower than his personal best of 2:21:20.30 which earned him the SEA Games gold medal in Chiang Mai, Thailand, last December.

Sutarman took the bronze in 2:29:22.60, only after escaping unhurt in an inadvertent collision with a motorcycle rider.

The slow-paced race contesting 21 runners yesterday left Nabunome's national record of 2:19.18.00 set in the 1989 Games intact.

An elated Nabunome picked up his 2-year-old daughter, Yolanda, in jubilation after the draining race. "It's unbelievable. The victory came when I did not even dare to think of it," said Nabunome.

The native of a remote village in Timor island ended his province's gold medal drought in this year's Games on Friday when he won the 5,000 meters.

Nabunome notched a 100 percent record in the previous Games in 1993 by winning 5,000m, 10,000m and the marathon. He missed the 10,000m title after finishing second behind Subeno of West Java on Wednesday.

In the women's race, Hilda Napitupulu took advantage of defending champion Ruwiyati's absence to win the gold for Jakarta in 3:10:06.88.

Dedeh Suryani of West Java took the silver after clocking 3:11:06.88, while the bronze went to debutant Fransina Maleybana of East Nusa Tenggara who ran 3:15:35.08.

"I could not have won this race had Ruwiyati been present," a down-to-earth Hilda, who had never won a gold before, admitted. "I have never beaten her so far."

Ruwiyati, who holds both the national and SEA Games records in 2:34:29, failed to defend her title yesterday after medical officials of the Games organizing committee found a slight bone disorder in her legs.

The committee said it would allow the 18-year-old Central Javanese to compete if she managed to show a clean bill of health. A new ruling from the International Amateur Athletics Federation bars a runner under the age of 20 years old to compete in marathons.

Ruwiyati had earlier said that she would not compete in the 19th SEA Games marathon next year as a protest against her exclusion from the long-distance run in this year's PON. (amd)