RI swimmers shine at Arafura Games

By Primastuti Handayani

DARWIN, Australia (JP): Indonesia bagged five more golds and three silvers in swimming and three golds and two silvers in track and field on the Arafura Games' third day yesterday.

Second string swimmers, who are being groomed for the 19th Southeast Asian Games in Jakarta in October, met their target in the Casuarina Swimming Pool.

Kristian Johanes set a record and won gold after clocking 28.67 seconds in the men's 50m backstroke. He broke the Northern Territory swimmer Sean Slattery's record of 28.99.

Fiji's Carl Probert came second in 29.16 and the Northern Territory's Owen Pike finished third in 32.30.

But Kristian failed to stop Northern Territory Olympian Ian Vander Wal in the 100m freestyle, taking silver in 54.36.

Vander Wal set a record of 52.66, breaking the Philip Trenerry's 1993 record of 54.26. Fiji's Carl Probert won bronze in 54.75.

Vander Wal won the 400m freestyle in 4:19.07. Indonesia's Donny Utomo was second in 4:25.71, while Sabah's Tzu Seong Wong was third in 4:30.28.

Indonesia's Sumanto grabbed another gold in 1:12.49 seconds, ahead of the Philippines Glenn Jabiguero, who finished in 1:15.78, and Tahiti's Gontran Dumarest, who clocked 1:16.09.

Kevin Rosa Nasution, the fourth daughter of the Nasutions, claimed yesterday's first gold after finishing 2:50.72 seconds in the women's 200 meters breaststroke. Northern Queensland's Samantha Ramsay took silver with 2:52.20 and Sabah's Jasmine Leong won bronze with 2:52.27.

Kevin came third in 4:47.57 seconds in the 400m freestyle behind Northern Territory swimmers Kerrylee Taylor, who won gold in 4:35.13, and Aimee Cantrell with 4:41.16.

National swimmer Silvy Triana took gold in the 100m freestyle in 1:00.66. Taylor won silver with 1:00.83 and Fiji's Caroline Pickering won bronze in 1:01.51.

But Silvy failed to beat Pickering in the 50m backstroke, touching the finish line in 31.07. Pickering took gold in 30.95. Both swimmers broke Malaysian swimmer Jong Su Ting's 1991 record. Taylor won bronze in 33.39.

Junior

Darlene Rahmawati, who finished fourth in the 13-to-14-year- old 100m freestyle and 200m breaststroke, finally won gold in the 100m backstroke in 1:13.5.

The Northern Mariana Islands' Tracy Feger won silver in 1:14.51 and Tahiti's Aurore Hubert took bronze in 1:15.32.

In athletics Ponsianus Kahol won gold in the men's javelin with a 63.13 meters throw.

Indonesian 100m sprinter Rabaiya made up for the disappointment of failing in the sprint by winning gold in the long jump with 5.64 meters.

Sambodo won gold in the 400m men's hurdles in 53.80 seconds.

Alex Krismo took silver in the men's 800m in 1.53 seconds and Rosalind Kahol came second in the women's shot put with 13.68 meters.

Indonesia's beat Sabah 15-14, 15-5 in the sepak takraw semifinal in a 51-minute match at the Marrara Indoor Stadium.

The national men's softball team beat the Northern Territory 5-0 at the Gardens Oval. Captain Tony Pratono hit and over-the- fence home run.

Although Indonesia's women's team beat the Australian Defense Forces 6-1, it lost to Chinese Taipei 0-7.

National shuttlers won again after beating Singapore 7-1 and Malaysia's University of Science 8-0.

Indonesia's mixed doubles pair Seng Kok Keong/Nonong DZ were the only players to lose. They lost to Singapore's Lau Kim Pong/Chin Yen Peng.

Indonesia's shuttlers will play China's Haikou Sport Delegation today.