Temmy Kusuma quashes South Kalimantan spree

Temmy Kusuma quashes South Kalimantan spree

JAKARTA (JP): Southeast Asian (SEA) Games champion Temmy
Kusuma spoiled South Kalimantan's conquering run in the national
diving championships when he handed Husaini Noor his first defeat
on Saturday.

Temmy of Jakarta outclassed Husaini, his fellow national diver
groomed for the 18th SEA Games in December, in his favorite
springboard event with 585.05, his best mark of the year, to end
Husaini's golden spree at the four-day competition.

Husaini just finished second with 572.85 for his first silver.
The South Kalimantan diver produced a haul of five gold medals
before he conceded the loss to the springboard specialist.
Another SEA Games regular, Bahriansyah of South Kalimantan, took
the bronze.

However, no one at the eight-team four-day event could stop
mighty South Kalimantan from winning the overall title. The
national diving powerhouse came out as the runaway leader with 10
golds, nine silvers and four bronzes. Its closest rival Central
Java managed only to collect three golds and three silvers.

"I anticipated earlier that Temmy would be my toughest rival
in springboard," said 17-year-old Husaini, who beat Temmy in the
one-meter board event on the opening day on Wednesday. Temmy gave
his team its only gold medal of the championships.

Another SEA Games champion Dwi Mariastuti of South Kalimantan
exploited her experience to maintain her winning streak over her
junior Nani Suryani Wulansari of Central Java in the women's
springboard.

SEA Games diving queen Mariastuti scored it 486.40 to take a
10-point margin over Nani, who conceded her third defeat to her
senior teammate in as many events at the championships.

The four-day competition served also as the first proving
ground for the national divers undergoing a centralized training
session for the Dec. 9-17 SEA Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

"Not bad. Some of the divers have performed commendably,"
national coach Zhong Shao Zhen of China said. The 1974 Asian
Games silver medalist was hired by the Indonesian Swimming
Association for the SEA Games.

Zhong said she would bring her eight-strong team to her home
soil, Guang Zhou, for a three-week stint in August. Some of the
national divers will enter the World Junior Diving Championships
in Guang Zhou.

"Indonesia remains the best diving power in Southeast Asia,
thanks to its hard working athletes," said Zhong. (amd)