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.