A colossal effort: Indonesian swimmer Guntur Pratama is exultant after winning a gold medal in the men’s 4x100 medley relay at the 25th Southeast Asian Games in Vientiane, Laos on Monday. Antara/Prasetyo Utomo
Indonesia is still struggling in fifth place on the provisional medal tally, an alarming reminder that the country will not be able to fulfil its target of finishing in third place at the biennial sporting showcase.
As of Monday, Indonesia has collected just 21 gold medals, well short of the 32 it should have bagged halfway through the Games, which conclude on Dec. 18.
Indonesia had set its gold target at around 62 to improve by one place on fourth in 2007.
“It appears difficult to reach the third spot. Lets not dream [too high],” Djoko Pramono, the head of the national training camp, said on the sidelines of the track and field competition at the Main Stadium of the National Sports Complex.
“We have missed 11 golds to date,” said Djoko. “However, there are still several gold mines, including pencak silat, judo and badminton as well as indoor and beach volleyball.”
The pencak silat fighters aim to snatch overall champion in the medal collection in the sport that offers a total of 19 gold medals.
Three out of 18 are expected from judo while the badminton team aims to emulate last Games’ sweep of seven golds. The volleyball team wants to spike two of four golds.
In karate and tae kwon do, which completed their competition on Sunday, Indonesian athletes missed some with karate fighters Hendro Salim and Donny Darmawan as well as tae kwon doins Basuki Nugroho, Rizal Samsir and Yulius Fernando being partly blamed for the flop.
The weightlifting team has contributed most gold with its five, although they rued the missed chance to make it six after Sandow Weldemar Nasution did not live up to expectation.
Indonesia is expected to add 13 gold medals from 47 events the athletes take part on Tuesday.
Indonesia added five gold medals to the tally on Monday.
The track and field gave two through Triyaningsih in the women’s 5000 meters and Dwi Ratnawati in women’s discus.
Pencak silat contributed one, thanks to the pairing of Hamdani and M Yusuf while the pool produced two, one each from swimming and diving.
The Indonesian team, comprising Guntur Putera, Indra Gunawan, Glenn Victor Susanto and Triady Fauzi Sidiq, broke the SEA Games record in winning the 4x100 medley.
They clocked 3:41.72 seconds, smashing the old mark of 03:45.61.
Husaini Noor and Muhammad Nasrullah finally splashed gold from the diving after they finish on top in the men's synchronized 10-meter platform.
Meanwhile, an Asian Games record was equaled at the track and field.
A Thai university student equaled the Asian Games record in women's high jump, but confessed she was so nervous during the event she had trouble breathing, AP reported.
Noengruthai Chaipech's victory extended Thailand's lead in the medal standings to 42, with Vietnam in second place at 31 and Singapore third with 28.
Noengruthai cleared 1.94 meters in her third and final attempt and was initially unaware she had equaled the Asian record, set by Sato Megumi of Japan at the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing.
“I broke the SEA Games record. I am so excited,” Noengruthai told The Associated Press, minutes after walking off the mat. When informed that she had also parred the Asian mark, she looked incredulous and blurted: “Really? I don’t believe it!”
In the football semifinals, Vietnam defeated Singapore 4-1, while Malaysia scraped past Laos 1-0 in front of a 20,000-strong home crowd at the Main Stadium.
