West Java continues domination at national tae kwon do championship

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

West Java, the 2001 overall champion, continued its domination at the 3rd LG Cup national tae kwon do championship, winning another three gold medals at the Bung Karno Indoor Tennis Court here on Saturday.

The reigning contingent now leads the standings with seven golds followed by Jakarta with three, East Java and East Kalimantan, each with one.

Meanwhile, the organizing committee appeared to respond to the media's threat of boycotting the tournament by offering an apology for an incident on Friday, which caused a strained atmosphere between security attendants and a number of reporters.

On court, West Java lived up to its reputation as the country's tae kwon do champ when its athletes took three of the four gold medals on offer.

The gold spree was started by Taufik Krisna, who outplayed Niko Warbandido of Papua 6-1 in the men's featherweight final.

Sinta Berliana Heru, who was a gold medalist at the 2001 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, rose to the occasion as the pre- favorite to win the women's welterweight title, but only after a tight battle with Amalia K.P. of Central Java.

Mela was also involved in a fierce final match with another Central Java fighter Ariesti P.S. The two players evened the score at 6-6 but the former was declared the winner for playing more aggressively.

The only glittering medal that slipped out of West Java's hands was the men's welterweight event. Victory went to East Kalimantan, courtesy of Suwardwiyono, who beat Charles Assa of Central Sulawesi 8-4 in the final.

With the threat of a media boycott looming, the committee duly held a press conference on Saturday to tackle the issue.

"As the organizing committee, we apologize for what happened yesterday. It seems that some people had over-zealously interpreted their duties," committee chairman Arief Suherman told reporters.

"Some of us are still young, we have to learn how to handle our emotions," he said, accompanied by Adrian Lumowa, the secretary-general of the Indonesian Tae kwon do Association (TI).

"Hopefully, that will be the first and the last incident," he added.