RI fails to retain men's volleyball title

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines: The Indonesian men's volleyball team failed to defend its title against archrival Thailand in the final of the 2005 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games here on Monday.

Indonesia, which edged Thailand 3-0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-21) two years ago in Vietnam, fell this time 1-3 (25-23, 21-25, 19-25, 18-25) to settle for the silver in one of the Games' final events.

"We were able to win the first game, but in the second we started making too many mistakes," national men's team coach Gugi Gustaman told The Jakarta Post.

"From then on, we couldn't find our rhythm."

Indonesia also lost 0-3 (23-25, 17-25, 23-25) to Thailand in the round robin, but beat Vietnam, Myanmar and the host.

In the women's competition, Indonesia finished fourth out of five nations, with only one win against Singapore. Thailand won gold, with Vietnam taking silver. -- JP