RI playing catchup in medal race
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Manila
Indonesia's campaign at the 23rd Southeast Asian Games continued to stutter on Tuesday, with only four gold medals collected from the third day of competition.
Tae kwon doin Basuki Nugroho, karateka Umar Syarif, cyclist Dadi Nurcahyadi and bowler Ryan Leonard Lalisang took gold to bring the national total to 10.
Kusnan Ismukanto, the national official in charge competition in Metro Manila, tried to be philosophical about the situation.
"The athletes perform according to what they get from their training. If they lose, they may not be in good form. Even if they are in good form, the opponents may be better than them and they are still defeated. All of this takes analysis," Kusnan told The Jakarta Post here on Tuesday.
The Philippines picked up 13 gold medals on Tuesday to take their total to 38, an 18-gold lead on Vietnam, which won the last overall medal count when it hosted the Games two years ago.
Particularly disappointing has been track and field, with a silver and three bronze from 12 events at Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.
Another 12 gold medals will be at stake on Wednesday's final day of track and field.
The problem and the need to fix it was recognized by the man in charge of national athletics.
"We need to improve our organizational management and development system. We are looking to make sure that athletes do not easily suffer a drop in stamina," chairman of the Indonesian Athletics Association (PASI) Mohamad "Bob" Hasan said.
He added that there were many young athletes, selected from a recent talent scouting program, with good prospects, and that PASI was considering a program to bring in foreign coaches.
On Tuesday, Darwati clocked one hour, 52 minutes and 13.4 seconds in the women's 20-km walk to finish behind Yuan Yu Fang of Malaysia, who won in 1:42.52.2.
The bronze medals were contributed by Oliva Sadi in the women's 1,500 meters, the men's team in the 4 x 400-meter relay and Zulkarnaen Purba in the men's 400-meter hurdles.
The men's 4 x 100-meter team was disqualified after final runner John Herman Murai dropped the baton.
Hopes for gold in the wrestling competition at San Andres Gym evaporated when Rudhi Septadhi lost in the final. It was a cruel reversal of fortune for the Indonesian 21-year-old Games first- timer after his excellent performance in earlier rounds.
In the 84-kilogram division, Rudhi overcame Rawin Phethaek of Thailand and John Esteban of Philippines, only to be easily defeated by Man Ba Xuan in the final in under one minute.
The dejected Indonesian had no words of excuse but praised his more experienced opponent. "He's just better than me," he said.
In tae kwon do, Basuki made up for a loss to Alexander Briones in the welterweight final at the 2003 Games by beating the Filipino this time around.
To raucous shouts of, "Go Indonesia", the 24 year old from Medan was able to take the winning point with the bout tied 2-2.
"I was really fired up, especially because this was the final bout of the day," he said.
In badminton, heavily favored Indonesia, led by Taufik Hidayat, thrashed Vietnam 5-0 to reach the men's team final.
They meet Malaysia on Wednesday.
Their example was not followed by the women's team, which lost 2-3 to Singapore.