RI loses title in ASEAN's student games

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's failure to defend its reign at the Eighth ASEAN Students Games was sealed after the country's soccer team surrendered to Thailand 2-1 in the National Stadium in Singapore on Saturday.

In contrast, the soccer match secured a magnificent victory for the Thais who became the champions of the event.

The ASEAN Students Games are held once every two years as an arena for the regions university students.

ASEAN groups Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, the Phillipines, Malaysia and Brunei.

Thailand's undisputed power in the student's games is proven by its impressive tally consisting of 52 golds, 34 silvers and 16 bronzes.

Indonesia, the runner up, collected a much humbler results of 24 golds, 38 silvers and 33 bronzes.

Sudham Ratanachot, Thailand's public relation official, said that his country's victory was expected since their students- athletes had been trained intensely for a two-month period.

"This is especially evident in the swimming and road and track events," he added.

Sloppy

Antara reported that the defeat of the Indonesian soccer team, which scored the match's first goal, was mainly caused by their own sloppy performance.

"Our boys played very poorly, they thought they already won after scoring that goal in the 39th minute," team coach Sakiruddin said.

The Thais came back in the 59th minute when Nakorn Supaklul delivered the first goal for his team.

Almost exactly one minute before the game ended, Samphan Eamulai secured the Thai victory by giving a magnificent goal from the left side outside the penalty area. (hdj)

Medals tally

G S B Thailand 52 34 16 Indonesia 24 38 33 Singapore 5 6 25 Malaysia 2 6 14 Phillipines 0 0 1