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.