Thailand asserts supremacy in regional sports

Fri, 15 Dec 1995

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.