Old hand Jonathan fails to inspire in gymnastics

Old hand Jonathan fails to inspire in gymnastics

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Hanoi

Jonathan Sianturi failed to inspire his younger teammates in
Indonesia's bid in the men's gymnastics competition team event at
the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Hanoi.

With other team members -- Restu Wahyudi and Mohammad Aldilla
Akbar Endriadi -- Indonesia finished in fourth place behind
Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines.

The Thai gymnasts, led by Sattra Suwansa, scored a total of
210.650 points to give the Thai contingent at the Games their
first gold medal. Malaysia had to be content with second place on
209.500 points followed by the Philippines on 200.450 points.

Indonesia could only score 193.650 points from the floor
exercises, pommel horse, ring, vault, parallel bars and horizon
bar.

Jonathan, who won the only two golds at the last SEA Games in
Kuala Lumpur in 2001, said that they had not been expecting much
as the team was made up of inexperienced gymnasts.

"I'm not looking for excuse. The gymnasts put on a good
performance at their own level. They showed what they could do
during training. While we may fail, these young player have good
prospects," Jonathan, who also acts as their mentor, said.

Team manager Gianti Imansyah appeared resigned to the result,
saying:"That shows what we are like now. We'll need to build
ourselves up in the future."

It was a predictable enough result for Indonesia as even
before the team's departure to Hanoi it had lost two of its key
members -- Lulu Manurung and Sepri Hariadi -- due to injuries.

Having originally expected to play a supporting role to
Jonathan, the two had to abandon their Games hopes with Lulu
injuring his biceps and Sepri getting a hand fracture during
training.

With him being expected to inspire his younger teammates,
Jonathan said he played safe during the event, the announcement
of whose results was delayed for almost two hours because of
computing problem at the Quan Ngua Sports Palace.

"I restrained myself from going for high points but with high
risk. I just fancied looking for between eight and nine points,"
he said.

The 32-year-old Jonathan, whose Vietnam outing will be his
last appearance in the SEA Games, scored 42.65 points on five
apparatus. He did not go for the vault. The 20-year-old Endriadi,
who is the youngest member in the team, was the highest scored in
the Indonesian team with 47.55, followed by Restu on 46.60 and
Akbar on 39.65.

The gymnastics competition provides 24 gold sets. Friday will
see the women gymnasts compete in the team event.