Richard takes Indonesia's first gold in the pool

By Ivy Susanti

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (JP): Indonesia won its first gold in the pool thanks to veteran Richard Sam Bera on the second day of the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games here on Monday.

But Thailand's dazzling gold medal splash continued as it swept half of the six events held -- the women's 400m freestyle, men's 200m individual medley and women's 4x100m freestyle relay, all in record-breaking times.

Singapore's Josceline Yeo and Malaysia's Elvin Chia took the rest of the top honors.

All the winners set new Games marks.

Richard made a hat trick in the men's 100m freestyle event in 51.03 seconds. The old meet record of 51.31 was set by compatriot Wisnu Wardhana in the 1993 SEA Games. Wisnu was outclassed by Richard and finished fourth in 52.13.

Felix Christiadi Sutanto earned his second bronze in the men's 200m individual medley and Indonesia's other bronze was given by its women's 4x100 freestyle relay team.

Thai king of the pool Ratapong Sirisanont shattered a second Games record en route to winning the 200m individual medley in 2:04.26. He set the old record of 02:04.74 in the 1995 Games on home soil in Chiang Mai.

Singaporean Joscelin Yeo also sharpened her personal best when she finished in 1:11.36 in the women's 100m breastroke for her third gold here. Her time was one hundredth of a second faster than her mark from 1995. It was her second record during the SEA Games.

On Monday, Joscelin set a record of 56.05 seconds in the women's 100m freestyle, 1.22 seconds faster than her best time also from the 1995 Games.

Chia won the gold in the men's 100m breaststroke by clocking 1:02.96 followed by Daniel Liew Yaoxiang of Singapore (1:04.95) and Non Poonchaisri of Thailand (1:05.68).

Chia smashed the eight-year-old record of 1:04.18 set by Filipino Eric Buhain.

"It was so nice seeing the 1991 record go," said Chia, a 22- year-old business studies student at a U.S. university.

Indonesia's swimming team manager Lukman Niode said he was pleased with Richard's performance on Monday.

"Judging from the result, I'm sure that Richard can also win gold in the 50m freestyle," he said.

Satisfaction

Richard also expressed satisfaction with his performance. He originally planned to retire after the 1997 Games in Jakarta.

With his excellent result on Monday, the 27-year-old Richard is looking ahead to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

In the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Richard reached the semifinals.

Indonesia hopes to win at least two more golds in the men's 50m freestyle from Richard and the men's 4x100m team medley. The country also is eying a gold from Shenny Ratna Amelia in the women's platform diving event.

Richard will compete in the 50m freestyle event on Wednesday and in the 4x100m medley relay.

In the men's three-meter springboard event, Malaysian Yeoh Ken Nee took the gold with 582.05 points. Second finisher was Pichi Suchart of Thailand and the bronze medalist was Atthainsee Anupan of Thailand.

In water polo, Indonesia bowed out to the Philippines 10-11 in the preliminary round. Malaysia eliminated Brunei Darussalam 16- 6.