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span class="inline inline-left">Another three gold medals in pencak silat helped Indonesia top the standings at the 17th ASEAN University Games in Palembang, South Sumatra, on Friday.

Indonesia led the medal chase with 52 gold, 64 silver and 39 bronze medals, leaving Thailand in second place with 44 gold, 30 silver and 19 bronze medals. Malaysia followed in third with 30 gold, 30 silver and 46 bronze medals.

Indonesia'€™s pencak silat team collected its three gold medals through Firman (men'€™s A class), Sri Rahayu (women'€™s A class) and Sa-rah Tri Monita (women'€™s C class).

Firman struck the first gold by beating Bui Ba Duc of Vietnam 5-0 in a lopsided match.

'€œWe are basically on par in terms of skills. The win was determined by mentality,'€ Firman said after the medal presentation ceremony.

Firman, a student from Tadulako University, Central Sulawesi, looks ahead with the 2015 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games as his target.

Sri and Sarah grabbed their golds also at the expense of Vietnamese opponents. Sri beat Nguyen Thi Kim 4-1 while Sarah booked a TKO win over Hoang Thiloan.

Sarah was granted the win after the Vietnamese contingent withdrew citing partiality in the umpiring.

In the women'€™s B class, Khatijah Juliana failed to follow suit as she fell to dominant Dao Thi Tuyet of Vietnam with a 0-5 loss.

'€œI lost control during the fight. I wasn'€™t able to come through physically,'€ she said.

The team won three gold medals, courtesy of Puspa Arum Sari, Linggar Uji Nugraha, Luh Putu Eka, Kadek Ratna Dewi and Ida Ayu Putu (women'€™s team).

The team also added four silver and two bronze medals to its tally.

Pencak silat offers a total of 19 gold medals. Vietnam took five to stay in second in the medal tally.

'€œTomorrow [Saturday] Indonesia will still have a chance to win seven golds from eight disciplines,'€ coach Rony Syaifullah said.