JP/Arief Suhardiman
With the Southeast Asian games to wrap up in two days, Indonesia has managed to scrape up the ladder to third place on Wednesday, although the position is far from safe with three other countries within three golds and vying for the spot.
Vietnam was again the top medal earner on Wednesday with a haul of 16 golds, which pushed its total golds to 61. Equal to that of Thailand, which managed 10 golds on the day. Thailand is clinging to top spot thanks to its impressive silver hoard.
Indonesia and the Philippines snatched six golds each with the former dominating the track and field and the latter the boxing ring.
The red-and-white flag was also unfurled at the fin-swimming, wushu and archery arena.
Suryo Agung Wibowo’s second victory sparked Indonesia's three-gold strike at the National Sports Complex’s Main Stadium in Vientiane.
Suryo clocked 20.85 seconds in the men's 200-meter dash for his second gold, following his record-breaking performance in the 100 meters.
Dedeh Erawati, 31, later joined the list of Indonesian gold medalists in the women's 100-meter hurdles, followed by Agus Prayogo, who led Jauhari Johan to a top-two finish in the men’s 10,000-meter race.
The Indonesian athletics team has now collected six gold medals in the competition where Thailand again showed its dominance, taking 10 gold medals.
Margaretha Herawati made a triumphant debut at the SEA Games by taking out the women's 100-meter bi-fin event of the fin-swimming competition. She finished with the best time of 51.55 seconds to brush aside her Thai rivals. The team also added three silver and two bronze medals.
The Indonesian women's archery team, which consists of Ika Yuliana Rochmawati, Novia Nuraini and Rina Dewi Puspita Sari, overcame their Singaporean opponents to prevail 195-190 in the team compound final, with support in the stands from State Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Andi Mallarangeng.
However, the men’s team finished second to Vietnam.
The wushu gold was contributed by Aldy Lukman, who scored the highest points in the men's gunshu final at the Lao ITECC building.
The day's medal rush gave Indonesia an overall 32 gold medals to jump to third on the provisional standings. Singapore is close behind with the same count of gold but less silver. Malaysia and Philippines hold 29 gold each, but Malaysia sits in fifth position with more silver medals.
Some events have not yet reached their finals, but Indonesia is assured of golds with three events holding all-Indonesia finals.
Sony Dwi Kuncoro will take on Simon Santoso in the badminton competition. Lavinia Tananta and Ayu Fani Damayanti will fight it out on the tennis court while Andy Ardiansyah/Koko Prasetyo Darkuncoro will face Suratna/Dian Santoso for the beach volleyball gold.
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