Records galore fall in Games weight lifting

Records galore fall in Games weight lifting

JAKARTA (JP): One national and eight Games weight lifting
records were broken on the first day of the 14th National Games
(PON) here yesterday.

The national record was broken by Winarni of Lampung. She
clean and jerked 105.5 kilograms in the women's 50kg category to
beat teammate Supeni's two-year-old record by half a kilogram.

Winarni twice smashed the PON record of 90kgs in the process.
She heaved 92.5kgs in her first attempt and raised 100kgs in her
second.

She broke another PON record in the snatch with 80kgs,
improving the old record by 7.5kgs.

Other record breakers were Hari Setiawan of West Java in the
men's 54kg and Sri Indriyani of Lampung in the women's 46kg.

Hari, who finished 12th in the Atlanta Olympics, clean and
jerked 135kgs and made a total lift of 240kgs. By doing so, he
rewrote both the PON clean and jerk record of 132.5kgs and the
PON total lift record of 232.5kgs which were set by Wahyudi of
East Kalimantan in 1993.

Indriyani, Indonesia's first junior world champion, shattered
three PON records but failed to beat her own national record of
76kgs (snatch), 96.5kgs (clean and jerk) and 170kgs (total). She
managed only 70kgs in the snatch and 90.5kgs in the clean and
jerk for a total lift of 160kgs.

Winarni cried after winning the gold medal. The 20-year-old
said she did not expect to break a national record. "I have
trained very hard for this meet, harder than for any other meet,"
she said.

Lampung lived up to its reputation as the country's
weight lifting powerhouse by taking two gold medals and breaking
seven of the nine records that were broken yesterday. But the
province's head coach, Imron Rosadi, refused to be praised for
the remarkable performance of his squad. "Success should be
measured after the end of the Games, not on the first day," he
said.

Indonesia's tennis queen Yayuk Basuki teamed up with Maria
Veronika yesterday to seal Yogyakarta's 2-1 win over Central Java
for a rematch against East Java in the women's team final today.

East Java, led by Olympian Romana Tedjakusuma, reached the
final with an upset 2-1 win over host Jakarta. It was a bleak
finish for Jakarta which had sought every avenue to win the gold,
including giving Central Java a win to avoid an early encounter
with Yogyakarta, and by deploying dozens of paid supporters.

In the men's tennis, Jakarta, led by former number one Benny
Wijaya, and West Java, led by Davis Cup veteran Suwandi, will
lock horns in today's final. Jakarta made short work of North
Sulawesi 3-0 while West Java strolled to the final by routing
East Java 3-0.

Yayuk and Maria tore Central Java's pair of Wynne Prakusya and
Lisa Andriani apart after a thrilling second-set tie breaker. The
Yogyakartans won 6-2, 7-6 (6-3). Yayuk's coach and husband
Suharyadi said he marveled at how well Yayuk could play despite
being in an uneven pair with Maria.

Suharyadi predicted that the doubles match would be decisive
in today's final. "The East Javanese doubles team is very strong.
They (Romana and Nathalie) are experienced players with more or
less the same skills," he said. Romana was Yayuk's Fed Cup
doubles partner.

In the inaugural golf competition, North Sumatra, led by the
country's best golfer Sukamdi, took the early lead with a total
score of 212 in the men's team event.

The North Sumatra team was made up Sukamdi, Suparno,
Indonesia's veteran player who is Sukamdi's elder brother, and
Suyanto. The fourth player in the team, Esnan Sato whose
performance was the worst of the four players, was not counted in
the team's final score.

Played in cool conditions on the par-72 Kedaton Golf and
Country Club in Tangerang, West Java, Sukamdi also lead the
individual event after recording a 3-under par-69 (36 33). Bakri
from East Kalimantan surprised the field when he finished the
round with a 2-under 70 (36 34). West Java's Ahmad Indra tied for
second place after scoring an identical 70 (36 34).

West Java, lead by the country's rising star Denny Supriadi,
placed second in the team event with a total score of 214. Bali
was third with 219.

The women's golf event will begin today with the Jakarta team
as favorite. (arf/rsl)