Olympian Krisna Bayu earns judo gold for South Sumatra
Olympian Krisna Bayu earns judo gold for South Sumatra
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Palembang
Krisna Bayu, whose Olympic hopes in Athens were crushed in the
first stage, gave South Sumatra a gold medal in the men's under-
100 kilogram of judo competition at the 16th National Games (PON)
here on Friday.
Confident Krisna was too strong for Gandung N.S. of Jakarta,
defeating his opponent with an overwhelming victory in the match
which only lasted 57 seconds.
"Well I was confident about winning this bout. I think that in
Indonesia I am still the best as my opponents do not practice
seriously," said Krisna, who formerly represented Central Java.
"This gold is for South Sumatra, which has taken care of me
well."
The victory has given him a collection of seven gold medals in
four National Games.
Gandung took the defeat in stride, saying that he just could
not find ways to match Krisna.
"He was always able to grab my clothes and I could not stop
him," said Gandung, who has never won in their 11 meetings to
date.
"It is too difficult to beat him. He is the best," he said.
Ida Bagus A of Bali and Ariyanto of Central Java won the
bronze in the tournament which had just nine entrants in that
weight class.
Krisna, who lost to Mongolian Tsend-Ayush Ochirbat in the
first round in Athens, will try to add to the collection when he
takes to the freestyle category and team match.
Other classes in the final stage included, men's +100
kilogram, women's 70 kilogram, and women's +78 kilogram.
Deni Z of North Sumatra beat Niki Maretama of Jakarta to win
the men's +100 kilogram gold.
He erupted in exultation after the win over his much bigger
opponent.
He scored one yuko and two kokas compared to Niki's one koka
to make amends for his failure in Surabaya where his bid crashed
at the hands of I Nyoman S. of West Java in the final.
Ridwan Krisbianto of East Kalimantan and Andreas Tedja of
South Sumatra had to be content with a bronze each.
In the women's +78 kilogram, Ira Purnamasari of West Java did
not have difficulty with Livia S. of Lampung, winning in 40
seconds to claim the gold medal.
The bronzes went to Fanny Pie of South Sulawesi and Sugiarti
of Jakarta.
In women's 70 kilogram, Cliffia Sulisto of Jakarta won the
gold after beating Hanna Yawan of Papua in the final bout with
Liliek Rusetiawati of Jakarta and Remiwati of Bangka-Belitung
bringing home the bronzes.
The judo competition will play offer another four gold medals
in the men's under-90 kilogram, under-81 kilogram, women's under-
70 kilogram, and under-63 kilogram on Saturday.