Thailand will beat RI in SEA Games: Observer
Thailand will beat RI in SEA Games: Observer
CIPAYUNG, West Java (JP): Indonesia does not have much of a chance to defend its title at the 18th Southeast Asian Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand, a noted sports observer says.
"Realistically speaking, host Thailand stands a good chance of scooping up 110 to 120 gold medals, while Indonesia can only hope to take 90 to 95," Mangombar Ferdinand Siregar, the country's most respected sports observer, told reporters yesterday. He was giving a lecture on "Indonesian Sports after the Year 2000" yesterday.
The 18th SEA Games, scheduled from Dec. 9 to Dec. 17, offers a total of 334 gold medals, 334 silver medals and 421 bronze medals from 28 sports.
Siregar said he arrived at the estimation after doing some calculations.
He said that various championships prior to the games showed that Thailand is particularly good at track and field (which offers 45 gold medals at the games), gymnastics (21 gold medals), shooting (34 gold medals) and swimming (38 gold medals).
This means that there are 138 gold medals up for grabs in the sports in which Thailand excels at the upcoming games. This figure accounts for 41 percent of the total gold medals available.
"Of this 41 percent, I'm sure Thailand can win at least half of them," the former secretary-general of the National Sports Council (KONI) said.
For instance, at the second Southeast Asian Confederations Junior Gymnastics Championship in Jakarta, held from April 1 to April 7 this year, Thailand won the overall title with 12 gold medals, while Indonesia trailed second with only five gold medals.
Another instance was the 38th Asian Shooting Championships, held from Oct. 2 to Oct. 10 in Jakarta, in which Thailand, even though it won just one silver medal, succeed in putting many of its sharpshooters into the semifinals. Indonesia only won one bronze medal at the shooting meet.
Indonesia, on the other hand, excels at archery (four gold medals), badminton (seven gold medals), rowing (seven gold medals), silat (15 gold medals), fencing (10 gold medals), table tennis (seven gold medals), tennis (seven gold medals) and weight lifting (19 gold medals).
This totals 76 gold medals. But Indonesia still has potential to win gold medals in some other sports, Siregar said.
The other sports in question are boxing (from which Indonesia may earn two to three gold medals), yachting (two gold medals possible), bowling (two gold medals), volleyball (one gold medal), snooker (one gold medal), tae kwon do (one gold medal) and cycling (five to seven gold medals).
"If my estimation should prove false, I believe the error rate would not exceed 10 percent," Siregar said.
Indonesia almost always emerges as overall champion at SEA Games. In the 17th SEA Games in Singapore, Indonesia was overall champion with 103 gold medals, 123 silver medals and 120 bronze medals. But in the 13th SEA Games in Bangkok, Thailand, Indonesia, with 64 gold medals, was second to Thailand which scooped 91 gold medals.
The secretary-general of Thailand's national sports council, Santiparb Tejavanija, earlier estimated that Thailand could win 109 gold medals, while Indonesia 105, according to Mohamad Sarengat, KONI's training director.
Sarengat was quoting a statement made by Santiparb after he returned home from his recently concluded trip to Chiang Mai, during which he observed Thailand's preparations in organizing the event. (arf)