Poor performance by Indonesia's martial artists
Poor performance by Indonesia's martial artists
Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Busan, South Korea
Indonesian martial artists failed to fulfill their target at the
Busan 2002 Asian Games, securing only one bronze medal from five
events on Friday at the Gudeok Gymnasium in the Gudeok Sports
Complex.
Senior tae kwon doin Juana Wangsa Putri contributed
Indonesia's only medal on the 13th day of the quadrennial
sporting event from the women's under-51-kilogram flyweight
division.
Juana was defeated 3-6 in the semifinals by Boorapolchai
Yaowapa of Thailand. The Thai was then defeated by South Korea's
Lim Su-jung in the final match. Cordero Daleen of the Philippines
got the other bronze medal after being outclassed 0-5 by Lim in
the semifinals.
Earlier on Thursday, tae kwon doin Muhammad Dalam Imam
contributed a bronze medal in the men's under-54-kilogram
finweight division.
There were three other tae kwon doins taking part in Friday's
matches.
The final match between Lim and Boorapolchai ended in a 3-3
tie but Lim won on fighting aggressiveness and superiority.
Another women's tae kwon doin, Sinta Berliana Heru, was
outperformed 1-5 by Luo Wei of China in the under-67-kilogram
welterweight division.
Satrio Rahadani provided the largest upset when he lost 4-7 to
Mohammed A. Al-Anuzi of Saudi Arabia in the first round of their
match.
Satrio spent two years of training in a Korean tae kwon do
institute to sharpen his kicking.
Another upset was suffered by Basuki Nugroho who was fighting
in the men's under-78-kilogram welterweight division.
Basuki was defeated 14-17 by Abdulhamid Atalla of Qatar also
in the first round.
Team manager Suwandi Gunawan, however, said Satrio's defeat
was acceptable as his opponent showed clear superiority during
the match.
"But we can't accept Basuki's defeat as the judges were
clearly in favor of the Qatari," he said.
"Look at the final score. It is impossible that such a score
could be achieved in an event like the Asian Games.
"This is the scoring record during the tournament."
Separately in the Yangsan College Gymnasium in the neighboring
city of Yangsan, Indonesia suffered another major blow when
karateka Jenny Zeannet Lolong failed to grab a single medal
although she was expected to reach the final stage.
"I am very disappointed with the result. Please forgive me
because I failed to contribute a medal," Jenny said while holding
back her tears.
"I was not patient enough during the repechage match and my
opponent took the advantage."
In the repechage round, Jenny was defeated by Hsieh Ai-chien
of Chinese Taipei in their struggle for the bronze medal.
Jenny started well in the first round with a 8-1 win over Asma
Khaled of the UAE but was stopped 2-6 by Kim Anh Vu of Vietnam.
Kim defeated Hsieh 3-2 in the first round. Kim was the
eventual winner after defeating Japan's Fujioka Eri 5-4 to win
the gold medal.
Coach Muhammad Gusti said Jenny failed to follow his
instructions to save her geri (kick) techniques until the right
moment.
"Jenny attacked Hsieh with her geri instead."
Team manager Tono Soe'oed, however, said there were still
chances for Indonesian karatekas to contribute some medals.
"We have four karatekas fighting in Saturday's matches. Let's
hope they will be able to grab a medal or two," he said.
Bambang Mauludin will face Chi Lat Wan of Macau in the men's
under-55-kilogram weightclass and Arief Taufan Syamsuddin is to
challenge Japan's Kenichi Imai in the men's under-60-kilogram
weightclass.
Meanwhile, Hasan Basri is slated to fight Umid Hakimov of
Uzbekistan in the men's under-65-kilogram weightclass and Sonny
Simangasing to challenge host Min Kyu in the men's under-70-
kilogram weightclass.