Taufik beats Simon to spoil Jakarta bid for gold sweep

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Palembang

Taufik Hidayat and the women's doubles pair of Lilyana Natsir and Nathalia spoiled Jakarta's bid for a golden sweep in the badminton competition at the National Games (PON), which ended here on Thursday at the Dempo Badminton Hall in Jakabaring.

Favorite Taufik, Indonesia's lone gold medalist at the recent Athens Olympics, made amends for his loss in the team event by winning the men's singles gold for West Java, defeating Simon Santoso of Jakarta 15-9, 15-3 in the final.

Lilyana and Nathalia won the women's doubles gold for North Sulawesi, stopping Jo Novita and Vita Marissa of Jakarta 15-12, 15-6.

However, Jakarta did win the other three golds on offer, with Nova Widianto playing a role in two of the medals.

Jakarta's Silvi Antarini hardly broke a sweat in winning the women's singles, drubbing East Java's Dewi Tira 11-2, 11-0.

Nova Widianto and Vita Marissa won the mixed doubles with a 15-9, 15-8 win over West Java's Flandy Limpele and Lita Nurlita.

Nova also teamed up with Candra Wijaya to beat Markis Kidho and Hendra Setiawan 13-15, 17-16, 15-13 in an all-Jakarta men's doubles final.

The main attraction of the day was the men's singles final, with Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat against the young and talented Simon Santoso.

More than 3,500 spectators packed the hall, the number almost twice as many of the hall's official capacity.

The more experienced Taufik was able to exploit Simon's weaknesses, aiming smash after smash to his young opponent's left side.

Without much difficulty, Taufik raced to a 12-3 lead after less than 10 minutes into the first game.

The 19-year-old Simon made a series of unforced errors, hitting the shuttlecock either wide or long. He did manage to regroup and close the gap to 13-7, with Taufik now guilty of loose play.

But Taufik bounced back and smashed Simon into submission.

Taufik continued the charge in the second game, pulling out to a 12-0 lead.

Trying to put off the inevitable, Simon opted for long rallies before trying to end matters with a quick smash. But it was too little, too late, and Taufik's defense and attack proved to formidable and he wrapped up the game 15-3.

In the women's singles, Indonesian No. 1 Silvi Antarini, making her National Games debut, had no problem overcoming Dewi Tira.

Dewi took an early 2-0 lead in the first game, but those proved to be the only two points she would score in the match, as Silvi reeled off 22 unanswered points to win 11-2, 11-0.

Silvi also helped Jakarta win the gold in the women's team event.

"This is my first PON and of course I am happy that I have been able to win two golds for Jakarta," she said.

"Although PON is a competition only between athletes in Indonesia, unlike international competitions, I think PON is a prestigious event, especially for me as my opponents here have generally not been easy," she told The Jakarta Post after her match.

Despite the failure to win the gold in the men's singles and women's doubles, the Jakarta team was still pleased with its three-gold haul on the day, and its five golds overall in the badminton competition, including in the men's and women's team events on Monday.

"Our victories today exceeded Jakarta's medal target in badminton, so I am satisfied with the results," the head of the Jakarta badminton association, Icuk Sugiarto, said.

Icuk said bonuses amounting to Rp 60 million (US$6,666) awaited the winners.