Thailand asserts supremacy in regional sports

Fri, 15 Dec 1995, 00:00 WIB

By Dwiatmanta

CHIANG MAI, Thailand (JP): Indonesia threw in the towel
yesterday in the battle to defend its title as the region's
number one sport nation against Thailand, with officials
accepting defeat on the sixth day of the Southeast Asian Games.

Thailand continued to lead in the chase for gold, leaving
Indonesia and the eight other contestants to pick up the crumbs.

By late yesterday, 12 more golds were added to Indonesia's
tally, for a total of 45, way behind the 96 gold medals that
Thailand had collected by the closing of the day. There were 53
golds at stake altogether yesterday.

With Indonesia's acceptance of defeat, it was almost every
athlete to his or her own in the Indonesian camp, each one
seeking to score at least a personal record of some sort. One or
two provided bright spots for the few hundred Indonesian
supporters in Chiang Mai.

Richard Sam Bera earned his third gold of the Games through
the men's 50 meter freestyle event. Richard, whose swimming
prowess was nurtured in the United States, touched the finish
block in 23.42sec leaving the old mark of 23.27sec set by
Singaporean Ang Peng Siong stay in peace.

Jonathan M. Sianturi also collected his third gold, through
the gymnastic's men's vault, sharing the top honor with
Thailand's Sattra Suwansa.

Sarmunah broke the jinx that has haunted Indonesia in the
shooting range, winning the women's double trap number. She
helped herself to a second gold later by winning the double trap
team women's event.

In athletics where gold has been scarce for Indonesia, Reza
Agus leaped 7.55 meters to win the long jump and Indonesia's only
fifth track and field gold.

Indonesian cyclists salvaged what was left of the nation's
pride, winning the women's 50-km team time trial and the men's
100-km team time trial. It was some consolation that on both
numbers, Indonesia beat host Thailand who had a home advantage.

For Nurhayati, who spearheaded the Indonesian women's team, it
was her second gold. Her team mates were Nuraini, Suharmisri and
Selly Guntari.

The men's team consisted of Tonton Susanto, Mohammad Hadi,
Tubagus Mohammad Maulana and Ismail Eggi Eirin.

"We have now regained our confidence to maintain our winning
track," Puspita Mustika Adya, who coaches both the men's and
women's riders, said.

Sinta Berliana clinched the middleweight women's category in
taek won do.

Indonesian judokas got three more golds through Triharyono
Rachmad in the lightweight division, Bayu Kresna in the open
weight, and Aprilia Marzuki in the women's open weight. This was
also Aprilia's second gold of the tournament.

Wismoyo Arismunandar, the chairman of the National Sports
Council (KONI), who has been shuttling from one venue to another
only to witness one disappointment after another, continued to
offer words of encouragement to the athletes.

"Even if we lose, be a good loser. I want everybody to leave
the Games with their heads held high," Wismoyo said.

There are 126 more golds at stake till closing on Sunday and
Thailand only needs 20 more to secure the overall title.

Thailand meanwhile is one step away from clinching the coveted
soccer gold after beating Singapore 1-0 in the semifinal, thanks
to a 23rd minute goal by Kristada Piandit.

Thailand also clinched the title of the fastest man in the
region after Renchai Seehawong won the 100 meter sprint in a poor
Games' time of 10.47 seconds.

But the Thais were denied the title of the fastest woman,
which went to Filipino runner Elma Muros, who clocked 11.81
seconds. Muros has now won three golds after her triumph in the
200m and long jump events on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Cambodia's hour finally came arrived late Wednesday with its
first medal, making sure that no nation returns from Chiang Mai
empty handed.