Two more golds roll in from wushu, lifters satisfied with two silvers
Agnes Winarti and Irawaty Wardhany, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Palembang | Sun, 11/20/2011 2:34 PM
Indonesia’s wushu team put on a magnificent performance to collect two gold medals — to add to the two they had already won — at Senayan Tennis Indoor Stadium in Central Jakarta on Saturday.
Aldy Lukman scored a 9.74 to win gold in the men’s changquan event, beating out silver medalist Tran Xuan Hiep of Vietnam (9.72) and bronze medalist Ahmad Hulaefi of Indonesia (9.71).
Aldy had also competed at the Laos SEA Games in 2009.
Another gold came from Lindswell, who scored 19.47 in the women’s taijiquan and taijijian events.
The silver was won by Malaysian Shin Yii Ng (19.41) and the bronze by Singaporean Ling En Valerie Wee (19.36).
The gold medal could be seen as a consolation for Lindswell, who failed to win a medal in last year’s Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.
“Finally, my hard preparation work paid off. I was feeling a bit down after the failure at the Asian Games. I’m grateful that my family, coach and friends supported me during that period so that I could rise up again,” said the silver and bronze medalist at October’s Wushu World Championships in Turkey.
This year is Lindswell’s third as a professional wushu athlete.However, Saturday was a letdown for SEA Games regular Susyana Tjhan, who had to settle for silver after losing out on gold by just 0.01 points to Nguyen Mai Phuong, who scored 9.71 in the women’s changquan finals.
The bronze medal went to another Vietnamese player — Hoang Thi Phuong — who scored 9.43.
Asian Games silver medalist and three-times SEA Games gold medalist Susyana said she planned to retire and become a coach at her father’s wushu academy, Rahmat Wushu, in Jelambar, West Jakarta, after the Games.
The silver medal is her fifth since she competed at the SEA Games in 2001.
In Palembang, Indonesia have to satisfy with two silver medals from weightlifting events.
Indonesia’s Samuel Shendy Latupeirissa lifted 136 kilograms in the snatch event, and 175 kilograms in the clean and jerk, finishing with a total of 311 kilograms to win silver in the men’s 84 kilogram event.
Thai lifter Pitaya Tibnoke won gold by lifting a total of 338 kilograms, while Vietnam’s Hoang Tan Tai seized the bronze with a total of 310 kilograms.
In the 105-kilogram category, Khunchai Nuchpun of Thailand set a new SEA Games record with a snatch weight of 157 kilograms, and 196 kilograms in clean and jerk to for a total of 353 kilograms.
Indonesia’s Bayu Saputra won silver with 152 kilograms in snatch and 186 kilograms in clean and jerk, while Malaysian Firdaus Abdul Razak took the bronze with 151 kilograms in snatch and 177 kilograms in clean and jerk.
