RI loses title in ASEAN's student games

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