RI rowers grab all three gold medals at stake
RI rowers grab all three gold medals at stake
By Dwiatmanta
CHIANG MAI, Thailand (JP): Indonesia's rowers carved out a
piece of history when they completed a clean sweep in that
competition at the 18th Southeast Asian Games here yesterday.
All three gold medals at stake yesterday went to Indonesia,
bringing the rowing tally to seven golds. They grabbed their
first four on Friday to help Indonesia maintain some of its
former dazzle at the nine-day sporting event which will conclude
today.
The wins by the national scullers reserved Indonesia a bit of
prestige, even though the Indonesian athletes in other events
were forced to fight tooth and nail for medals of any color.
The Indonesian women's scullers found it easy to overcome the
gentle tide of the Me Guang dam's water, 40 kilometers north of
here. They clocked four minutes and 1.652 seconds in the one-
sided 800-meter race.
Laotian women gave their team its first silver ever at the
Games when they finished in 4:09.55, ahead of Myanmar which was
recorded 04:11.53.
Indonesia continued its winning streak in the men's races by
convincingly staving off Myanmar's tough challenge. A 10-side
Indonesian team completed the 800m regatta in 3:30.17, leading
the Myanmarese by 1.20 second. Host Thailand had to be content
with the bronze when it finished almost seven seconds behind
Myanmar.
The national 20-manned team preserved Indonesia's stronghold
in the traditional boat race. The Indonesian pace-setters paddled
their way to the fastest time of 3:04.06 to once again out sprint
their Myanmarese rivals. The silver medal winner specialist
finished in 3:05.18, with Thailand trailing one and a half second
for another bronze.
The Indonesian rowing association set their sights on winning
five golds once the organizing committee decided to use longer
and heavier sculls.
The organizers also inserted the women's races into the list
of medal events in the Games.
'Pencak silat'
Pencak silat also saw Indonesia dominating the rest of the
Southeast Asian teams as it took eight out of the 15 golds
offered yesterday.
Host Thailand won four golds to add zest to its overall lead
in the medal race at the biennial event. Malaysia bagged two, and
Singapore one.
Pencak silat, a martial art originating in Indonesia, was
included in the sporting extravaganza in 1987, and since then
Indonesia has been the invincible gold medal winner.
Indonesian athletes cruised to all but three finals yesterday,
but winning only eight looked fair in the eyes of national pencak
silat leader Eddy Nalapraya.
"We are no longer the sole superpower in pencak silat, despite
the fact that Indonesia is the home for the martial art," Eddy
said.
Eddy warned of a possible setback suffered by Indonesia,
because of the growing popularity of the sport worldwide. The
Pencak Silat World Championships have been organized annually
since 1993.
Eddy admitted that there had been a big hope prior to the SEA
Games that the national pencak silat athletes could harvest a
clean sweep in order to help the Indonesians keep up with the
Thailand's Joneses in their medal race.
Prediction
"Our prediction went wrong. Even if we managed a clean sweep,
we could have not saved Indonesia from the overall loss," said
Eddy. Indonesia expected to win only eight golds in pencak silat.
A last-ditch effort also earned Indonesia top honors in
fencing as it grabbed all the two team epee golds, the last golds
at stake in the sport.
The Indonesian women's fencing team of four scored a total 45-
38 win over the Philippines in a hard-fought finale. Thailand, a
45-28 winner over Malaysia, secured the bronze.
Another daunting challenge from Thailand forced Indonesia to
stretch muscles in the men's epee team final. Lucas Zakaria and
company battled all the way to a 45-35 win over the Thais. The
bronze went to the Philippines, which beat Singapore 45-36.
Indonesia regained its domination in the fencing competition,
with a collection of six golds, four silvers and four bronzes out
of 10 golds offered. It slipped to only three golds in Singapore
to mark the poorest outcome in its SEA Games history.