West Java continues domination at national tae kwon do championship
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.