Thailand regains Games supremacy with 64 gold
Thailand regains Games supremacy with 64 gold
By Primastuti Handayani and Ivy Susanti
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (JP): The badminton contingent allowed
beleaguered Indonesia to hold its head high at the 20th Southeast
Asian Games, which will close on Sunday.
But three gold medals in badminton and one each from boxing,
tennis and table tennis on Saturday were not even enough to
upstage Malaysia for second place.
Thailand is almost certain to emerge the overall winner in the
nine-day event after it surged ahead on top of the medals tally
with 64 golds.
Thailand, the biggest contingent with 361 athletes, crowned
its supremacy with the coveted soccer gold medal after beating
Vietnam 2-0 in Saturday's final, sweet revenge for its loss to
the same opponent in the Tiger Cup last year.
Malaysia slipped to second after an overnight lead with 54
golds, 44 silvers and 42 bronzes, while Indonesia remained third
with 44 golds, 42 silvers and 57 bronzes.
Taufik Hidayat salvaged some Indonesian pride by winning the
badminton men's singles gold medal, The 18-year-old Indonesian
beat Wong Choon Han of Malaysia 15-10, 11-15, 15-11 in a match
lasting nearly two hours.
Supported by nearly 2,000 Indonesians, including swimmers and
athletes from other sports, the All England finalist played his
best game to hand Wong a second straight defeat within a week.
Taufik had helped Indonesia retain the men's team gold medal on
Tuesday.
In the women's singles, Cindana Hartono defeated Sujitra
Eakmongkolpaisarn 11-5, 11-2 to collect her first individual gold
medal at the Games.
Another gold was earned from the women's doubles after Etty
Tantri and Cynthia Tuwankotta defeated compatriots Indarti
Issoliana and Emma Ermawati 17-15, 15-6.
Men's doubles of Flandy Limpele and Eng Hian couldn't extend
Indonesia's winning streak as they suffered an upset 8-15, 15-8,
13-15 defeat to the Thai pairing of Pramote Teerawiwatana and
Teesana Pansisavas.
In tennis, the Indonesian partnership of Wynne Prakusya and
Romana Tedjakusuma contributed another gold when they beat
teammates Liza Andriyani and Wukirasih Sawondari 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Earlier in the day Wynne crashed to Filipino Maricris
Fernandez in the gold medal match.
Light heavyweight boxer Albert Papilaya capped his
international career in style before retirement when he stopped
Thailand's Somsak Janthaporn for the gold medal. Albert has now
won six of his seven appearances in the SEA Games finals.
The chief police sergeant, who turns 32 on Sept. 15, performed
excellently to become the country's sole gold medalist in the
boxing ring.
In the do-or-die match of table tennis, Anton Suseno and
Hadijudo Prajitno unexpectedly outclassed Singaporean doubles of
Zhang Tay Yang and Duan Yong Jun 12-21, 21-17, 21-16.
Anton still has a chance to win another gold as he will take
on Duan in Sunday morning's men's singles final.
Indonesia managed to avoid going home empty-handed in soccer
as the team finally beat Singapore 4-2 in a penalty shoot-out.
The country's basketball team overwhelmed Singapore 75-71 to
get the bronze medal.
The third-placed result was a step down from Indonesia's
basketball throne gained two years ago.
The National Sports Council chairman, Wismoyo Arismunandar,
called on the national sports community not to put the blame for
the contingent's disappointing showing on officials.
Wismoyo said he would call sports organizations officials to
meet and discuss how to improve sports development in the
country.