T

he stuttering boat of Indonesian sporting delegation at the Asian Games may becoming disoriented farther in the medal chase following the news that chief de mission (CDM) quit his captaincy for the sake of emergency calling for haj pilgrimage.

Deputy CDM Tb. Ade Lukman, who is now taking full charge of the delegation, said that CDM Suwarno left for Jakarta on Thursday after he had been confirmed about his seat for the pilgrimage.

'€œHe was scheduled to leave for Mecca on Sept. 27,'€ he said on Thursday.

Ade had initiated to meet Indonesian press also to clarify reports of equestrian officials blaming each other for the team'€™s failure to deliver gold.

'€œWe shouldn'€™t point fingers at each other over the failure. The team and [rider] Larasati did their best. Our opponents were better than us. Let'€™s look forward to the next challenge,'€ he said, he was referring to the next Asian Games Jakarta will host in 2018.

Medal collection trickled for Indonesia after six days of the Asian Games with Thursday'€™s competition program giving only two, none being gold as much expected.

Ardi Isadi, Tanzil Hadid, Muhad yakin and Ihram finished in third place behind China and Hong Kong to grab the only gold at the Chungju Tangeum Lake.

The other bronze came from the bowling lane, thanks to Hardy Rachmadian and Muhammad Billy Islam in the men'€™s doubles division.

With only minor medals earned and missed gold shots in some of the sports, Indonesia gave in over its gold target.

'€œWe have already missed our gold shots in equestrians, wushu, weightlifting and rowing,'€ Ade said. '€œBut we still have hopes for gold in badminton, BMX cycling, beach volley, soft tennis and archery.'€

At the Gyeyang Gymnasium, where the shuttlers are expected to win two gold medals, most of Indonesian shuttlers advanced to the next stage.

The team'€™s best hopefuls Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan in men'€™s doubles, and Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir had relatively easy tasks over their less known opponents. Hendra and Ahsan beat Lee Chun Hei and Tang Chun Man of Hong Kong 21-11, 21-15 while Tontowi and Liliyana won 21-4, 21-9 win over Bikash Shrestha and Nangsal Tamang of Nepal.

Angga Pratama/ Rian Agung Saputra, Greysia Polii/Nitya Krishinda Maheswari, Praveen Jordan /Debby Susanto and Ihsan Maulana Mustofa were also through.

In beach volleyball, Ade Candra Rachmawan and Koko Prasetyo Darkuncoro, and Dian Putra Santosa and Fahriansyah won their matches over respective opponents to set up all Indonesian quarterfinal match.

Christopher Rungkat won his singles match over David Sofaer 6-2, 6-3 in the second round of tennis competition before pairing with Elbert Sie to register a 6-2, 7-5 win over David Sofaeri and Li hei Yin. But David Agung Susanto was stopped by Wu Di of China, 0-6, 3-6.

The archers in women'€™s compound division failed to match their opponents, but hopes were still harbored at the Gyeyang Asiad Archery Field, with world champion Ika Yuliana Rochmawati set to lead teammates in recurve women'€™s team elimination round on Friday.

The swimmers had yet to conjure a medal with Glenn Victor, Fauzi Triady Sidiq and Ricky Anggawidjaja failing to qualify for the finals, in which China took another three gold medals against Japan'€™s two from five at stake.

The two collection from the swimming pool helped Japan leveling the medal collection with South Korea. Reigning champion China was unstoppable in gold mining that brought its tally to 79.