Thailand closer to gymnastics title

Thailand closer to gymnastics title

JAKARTA (JP): Panasda Tubbunjong and Aunchana Yeaksukon bagged two gold medals in the girls' rhythmic sportive gymnastics to help Thailand move closer to the overall title at the second Southeast Asian Junior Gymnastics Championships yesterday.

With just one day left and four gold medals up for grabs, Thailand now leads the medal race with eight golds. Second-place Indonesia trailed with five golds after its gymnasts spent the third day of the annual meet without a single gold.

Today's programs will feature individual rhythmic competitions at which Thailand girls excel.

Both Panasda and Aunchana were awarded equal scores of 33.5 in the girls' rhythmic sportive gymnastics individual multiple competition, the only event contested yesterday.

The judges were also forced to name twin winners on Tuesday when Indonesia's Irma Febryanti and Malaysian Au Li Yen tied at 8.30 in the girls' uneven bars competition.

The judges declared no silver medal and announced Yulianti of Indonesia, who collected 32.6, bronze medalist. Yulianti scored 8.30 with the rope, 7.90 with the ball, 8.30 with the club and 8.10 with the ribbon to give Indonesia its only medal yesterday.

But after the judges gave Yulianti 8.30 for her routine with the rope, Thailand's Bulgarian coach B.B. Ignatova protested immediately.

"Her technique was very low. She messed up with the rope and dropped it several times. The score was too high," Ignatova told The Jakarta Post emotionally.

Yulianti's coach Yulia Ros was unaware of the protest. However, Yulia acknowledged that Yulianti did not perform her best. "She was better during training. Perhaps she was a bit nervous," Yulia said.

The championships' organizer Sri Hastuti Merdiko said the judges could not be disturbed with the protest as they were still at work. "We agreed to deal with the protest later," she said.

However, the head of Thailand's delegation, Narong Thedvisal, told The Post at the end of the day's competition that his side decided not to lodge any protest. "We just felt that Yulianti's score should have been lower. Some coaches from the other countries confirmed what my coach has said," Thedvisal said. (arf)