Three contingents are still locked in a race for the championship title but the gold in soccer, considered the most prestigious honor in the Games, will not belong to any of them.

Teams from outside Java will play for soccer gold with North Sumatra and East Kalimantan in the final after winning the semifinals on Monday.

North Sumatra cruised through after defeating favorite Papua 1-0. The only goal was scored by Aidun Sastria Utami five minutes before the end of the first half. Papuan manager Nico Dimo praised his opponents’ game and said that they deserved to advance. “We have two of our starting 11 injured, but that’s no excuse,” he said.

East Kalimantan were 2-0 winners over Central Java. Bayu Gatra put his team in front in the first half before Radiansyah made it double in injury time.

In the medal chase, West Java, Jakarta and East Java have been swapping places in the last few days with West Java rounding off Monday’s program on top of the provisional standings with 72 gold, 56 silver and 81 bronze medals as of 6 p.m.

Jakarta dropped to second place with 67-78-83, followed by East Java, overall champion four years ago, with 66-64-64.

West Java team said they had expected tight race with the other two teams. “We knew since the beginning that the three of us would compete fiercely,” Team spokesperson Dadan Hendaya told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

He said West Java had earlier estimated that Jakarta and East Java would begin to catch up with them on the fifth or sixth day of the Games.

“But in reality that only happened on the eighth day [Sunday] perhaps because of our domination in swimming,” said Dadan. The 16-strong West Java swim team ruled the pool by taking 22 of 32 gold medals on offer.

Dadan said they were optimistic about the championship prospects.

“We still have opportunities in water skiing and chess, apart from other sports we take part in,” he said. The province is seeking its first championship crown in more than five decades, during which Jakarta has been almost unchallenged.

Dadan said a failure to come out on top would be heart breaking. “It may disappoint us, but will not make us lose heart because the athletes have tried their best and shown to Indonesia that they are worth taking into account,” Dadan said.

To motivate the athletes, gold medalists have been promised rewards in the form of houses and cash.

Meanwhile, an East Java official said they were not certain of retaining the championship title. “Chances are slim for us to be the overall winner because there are still sports yet to finish that Jakarta is good at,” spokesman Indro Sulistio told the Post, adding East Java had only table tennis left to rely on.

Powerlifting, pencak silat, pool, archery, bridge, bowling and synchronized swimming, are among a few other sports still offering medals before Thursday.

The Riau PON has seen at least 33 new records in powerlifting, weightlifting, track and field, archery and swimming; eight new national records from powerlifting, weightlifting and track and field; and six new Asian records from powerlifting.

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