RI wins 1 gold, 1 silver in softball at Arafura Games
RI wins 1 gold, 1 silver in softball at Arafura Games
By Handayani Primastuti
DARWIN, Australia (JP): Indonesia's men's softball team won
the last gold medal on offer at the Arafura Games Oval but the
women's team lost its gold-medal match against Chinese Taipei.
Indonesia beat the Northern Territory 6-0 in just under two
hours.
Dondy Apriliandi, Lukmanul Hakim and captain Tony Pratono hit
three runs in the first innings, thanks to fielding mistakes by
the home side.
In the second and third innings, Indonesia failed to score
because the Northern territory fielded better and Roy Umbasan and
Gofur Novanto were both out caught.
But in the fourth innings, Dondy returned home safely thanks
to teammate Lukmanul Hakim.
Roy Umbasan added another in the fifth after hitting the ball
over the fence for a run after Djuhari and Iwan Pujianto were
already out.
In the sixth innings, Dondy added another run.
"I was very satisfied with their performance today. They were
unbeaten in 10 matches during the Arafura Games and I think it
was excellent," said Indonesia's New Zealand coach John Lowes.
"It's a good international experience for them. And our next
goal is to win the Southeast Asian Games gold," he said.
In the women's final Chinese Taipei played faultlessly, while
Indonesia looked shaky at critical moments.
Taipei's Liu Lili, Chang Mai Lay and Cheng Mei Chih all made
home runs in the first innings.
Indonesian players seemed taken aback by their rival sudden
success and played cautious.
Neither team scored again until the fifth innings.
Ajeng Susan, who was on third base, and Teti Widawati on
second, made it home thanks to compatriot Carrin Garimurti, who
hit a bunt but had to retire.
Indonesia had narrowed the score 2-3.
But in the sixth innings, Chiang Hu Chuang, Chien Chen Yu and
Liu Lili made three more runs as short stop Nurjanah fumbled the
ball.
Indonesia failed to score in the final innings and had to
settle for silver.
Performance
Despite the loss coach Ajang Suparlan was satisfied with the
team's performance.
"Taipei is a good team, but our team performed well enough
today," he said.
"But we must work hard on pitcher Mutiara's accuracy in
meeting the need of our catcher," he said.
Ajang said Mutiara was faster than Taipei's pitcher but she
still needed to work on her accuracy.
"We still have time to work on it because the Southeast Asian
Games are still five months away," he said.
Indonesia brought home 30 gold, 21 silver and 17 bronze medals
from the Arafura.
Final Medal Tally
Gold Silver Bronze Total
-----------------------------
Australia 135 128 136 399
Northern Territory 97 68 68 233
Queensland 18 24 24 66
Australian Defense Forces 6 15 11 32
Western Australia 6 8 8 22
North Queensland 4 5 7 16
New South Wales 2 4 8 14
Victoria 1 1 3 5
Australia Country 1 0 1 2
South Australia 0 1 3 4
Torres Strait Islands 0 1 2 3
Australia 0 1 1 2
Malaysia 35 32 32 99
Sabah 27 19 23 69
Malaysia 3 5 2 10
Johor 3 3 4 10
Trengganu 2 4 2 8
Kuala Lumpur 0 1 0 1
Penang 0 0 1 1
Indonesia 30 21 17 68
Chinese Taipei 23 11 9 43
Hong Kong 11 11 13 35
Fiji 10 6 5 21
Papua New Guinea 9 17 19 45
Vietnam 9 14 2 25
China 6 2 8 16
Haikou 3 2 4 9
Hainan province 2 0 4 6
China 1 0 0 1
The Philippines 5 4 3 12
Philippines 2 3 1 6
Mindanao 2 3 1 6
Thailand 5 4 1 10
USA (Guam) 4 7 9 20
N. Mariana Islands (Saipan) 3 4 2 9
New Zealand 3 4 0 7
Brunei Darussalam 2 6 11 19
Pacific Oceania 2 2 0 4
Japan 1 2 3 6
Tahiti (French Polynesia) 1 1 4 6
South Africa 0 3 3 6
Macau 0 2 3 5
Singapore 0 1 4 5
Nauru 0 0 1 1
---------------------------
Total 294 282 285 861