Thailand walks off with men's team title

By Ivy Susanti

JAKARTA (JP): Thailand's strength in depth enabled it to retain its supremacy of the men's gymnastics yesterday when it walked of with the men's team event.

Its convincing 206 points easily beat Indonesia's aggregate score of 194.25 in the six apparatus events.

Malaysia came third by scoring 189.350.

"I am very happy and I'm also proud of the team's performance," said Thailand's team coach Pompong Itthayophasakul.

He said the Games served as a warmup for next year's Asian Games and other international events, such as the Sydney Olympic Games.

The star of last night's competition was Amornthep Unchai, who scored 52.250, which included the highest score on the rings.

"I am very happy (about the result) and I want to win in every competition, including in the next performance," Unchai said after the tenacious struggle against his main rival, Jonathan Mangiring Sianturi from Indonesia.

The 23-year-old Unchai performed with great confidence throughout despite being rudely booed by the Indonesian supporters who heckled him during each of his performances.

He said he was confident of winning further gold today because he had trained very hard for more than a year for the Games.

"I want to be number one," he declared.

However, he said the victory was due to good cooperation and camaraderie among the whole team.

Indonesia was very pleased about winning the silver after such a tough competition, considering the poor health of some of its athletes.

"The result is the same as two years ago, but I'm very proud with the high spirit of our athletes," said team manager Andi Darussalam Tabusalla.

He said four of the player had either just recovered from or were still nursing injuries.

Jonathan said yesterday that he was not too upset by the result. "It's quite good," he said.

Jonathan, a devout Christian said that he always prayed before each of his performances. Like Unchai, he too expressed confidence that he could win today.

"Nothing is impossible in this world. Winning is not an immediate decision. If God wants me to win, I'll win. I believe that I can do nothing without His (grace)," he said.

He said that Thailand's main advantage was that its team had no weak links.