Selviana marks comeback with double gold

JAKARTA (JP): Life is restarting after 40 for Selviana Sofyan of Jakarta who yesterday returned to the shooting range with two gold medals in the women's sport pistol at the 14th National Games.

It was a remarkable comeback for the 1989 Southeast Asian Games champion, who had abandoned her hobby owing to her commitments as a businesswoman and a housewife.

"I trained for just two months for these National Games," said the 41-year-old sharpshooter. "I would not have made this comeback if Pak Slamet Singgih hadn't asked me to," she added. Singgih is chairman of the Jakarta shooting body.

Selviana was at her best in the 1989 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, where she scored a then SEA Games record of 375 with a 22-caliber pistol.

Selviana scored 654.2 to win the individual gold yesterday. It far exceeded the old meet record of 560 she set shortly before her "retirement" in 1989, and the old national record of 571 held by fellow Jakartan Nuris Melly.

Second to Sofyan in the individual event was her fellow Jakartan Lolo Marhadi who scored 650.4. Marhadi was 0.1 point better than bronze medalist Kadarwati of Jambi.

Selviana also spurred Jakarta to the team gold and a new meet record with a total score of 1,656. She topped the scoring with 562 while her teammates, Putri Rindayani and Lolo Marhadi, scored 540 and 554 respectively. The old Games record of 1,642 was set by a Jambi team in the 1993 Games.

In the men's air rifle Ridwan Gunawan of South Sumatra scored 675.9 to beat both his national record of 581 and his meet record of 572. Unlike Selviana, however, Gunawan failed to bring his team to a double. East Kalimantan won the team event with a total score of 1,706, breaking the old Games record of 1,653 set by East Java in 1993.

Today's finals will feature the women's air pistol and the women's standard rifle prone.

Golf

A one-shot margin was enough for Sukamdi from North Sumatra, to justify his billing as being the country's top golfer when he finally won the individual gold medal in the National Games golf tournament that concluded at the Kedaton Golf and Country Club yesterday.

Finishing the final round with a 1-under-par 71 (35 36) after four birdies, one bogey and a double bogey on the last hole for a 2-under-par total of 286 (69 74 72 71), Sukamdi went home with the first ever National Games title as golf was making its debut at the nation's biggest sporting gathering.

Close on his heels on 287 (72 75 70 70) was Indonesia's rising hope Denny Supriadi from West Java, whose 2-under-par 70 (34 36) yesterday was not enough to force Sukamdi into a play-off for the top spot.

The 18-year-old Denny was happy, however, as he managed to help West Java win the team gold, defeating favorites North Sumatra and Jakarta.

The West Java team of Denny, Sarmilih, Jemin Putra and Ahmad Indra carded a total score of 871 (214 226 215 216), eight strokes ahead of North Sumatra which finished second and won the silver medal. The North Sumatrans were Suparno, Suyanto and Esnan Sato.

The host team, represented by Dana Mahmud, Hamzah Rahmadi, Kuswanda and Kastori won the bronze medal after scoring 883 (220 224 217).

Little known Bakri from East Kalimantan won the bronze in the individual event with a four-day score of 290 (70 73 74 73).

In the ladies' competition, pretournament favorite Jakarta ended as champion when Ani Iman, Titi Puryanti and Retno Mustari garnered a 441 (154 140 147). The three Jakartans are the country's leading golfers and have represented their country on several occasions in major international competitions including the classic Sirikit Cup.

North Sumatra took its second Games golf silver medal when its ladies team made up of Dewi Suhartati, Khairani and Yati Joenis cantered home with a 469 (159 155 155). The bronze medal went to West Java with a aggregate score of 474 (162 154 158). The West Java team was made up of Jamillah, Nanny J. Yojana and Neneng K. (arf/rsl)

Leading medal tally (after the 4th day of competition):

G S B Jakarta 56 32 32 West Java 28 31 33 East Java 21 31 27 Central Java 10 17 22 Jambi 10 5 5 Lampung 8 9 12 South Sulawesi 6 12 12 Central Kalimantan 6 8 4 North Sumatra 6 5 8 East Kalimantan 6 3 11 Irian Jaya 5 6 4 Southeast Sulawesi 5 2 4 North Sulawesi 4 7 9 West Kalimantan 4 2 1 Yogyakarta 3 5 8 South Sumatra 3 2 3 Riau 3 1 3 Maluku 2 1 6 South Kalimantan 1 5 0 Bali 1 3 6 West Sumatra 1 1 6 Bengkulu 1 1 3 East Nusa Tenggara 1 1 0 Central Sulawesi 0 1 1 East Timor 0 0 3 Aceh 0 0 1