The home team added three more gold medals, one from karate and two from weightlifting, on the second day of the 3rd Islamic Solidarity Games (ISG) in Palembang, South Sumatra on Tuesday.

Karate team members Faisal Zainuddin, Fydelis Lolobua and Azwar were awarded gold medals in the men's kata team after outmatching the Middle East's karate powerhouse Kuwait 5-0 in the final.

Indonesia reached the final at the expense of Qatar, whom they defeated 5-0 in the qualifying round, United Arab Emirates also with a 5-0 win in the quarterfinals and Egypt 3-0 in the semifinals.

The semifinal match went tight with the opposing side lining up the world's sixth-seeded team comprising Ibrahi, Magdy Moussa, ahmed Ashraf, Moustofa Ibrahim.

Faisal and teammates scraped to a 3-0 victory.

'We are really grateful for being able to present our best for our country. This is remarkable because all of the world's top karate athletes are participating. This event is like the world [karate] championships,' Azwar said after the final match.

He looked ahead, expecting his team members to maintain their performance and seize more gold medals at the upcoming Southeast Asian Games in Myanmar in December.

In weightlifting, two female lifters Citra Febriyanti and Sri Wahyuni grabbed their gold medals in 53 kilograms (kg) and 48 kg division respectively.

Citra recorded a total lift of 184 kg (77 kg snatch and 107 kg clean and jerk), while Sri won with a total 196 kg (86 kg snatch and 110 kg clean and jerk).

Citra is one of the Indonesian lifters who competed in the London Olympics, while Sri brought home silver from the Asian championships from Kazakhstan in June.

Another lifter, Syarah Anggraini snatched a silver medal in the 53-kg category with a total lift of 181 kg (81 kg snatch and 100 kg clean and jerk).

The bronze medal was taken by Malaysia's Azizah Binti Fadzil.

Team manager of Indonesia's weightlifters, Dirja Wihardja applauded the athletes' achievement as outstanding, given their short preparation period prior to the ISG.

'They had only three weeks before the ISG to prepare themselves but we are able to present two gold and a silver medal thanks to the athletes hard work,' he said.

He added that he cast doubts on Sri when she failed in her first snatch lift. 'Usually athletes who fail in their first lift will continue to fail in their next attempts. However Sri proved me wrong,' said Dirja.

While Indonesia dominates the female weight lifting events, Iraq took the lead in the men's event with Ali Albachachi seizing gold in 56kg. He recorded 105 kg in the snatch and 137 kg in the clean and jerk for a total lift of 242 kg.

He outdone Saudi Arabia's, Al Saleem Mansour Abdulrahim, who had to be content with a silver medal with a total lift of 241 kg (110-kg snatch and 131-kg clean and jerk) and Indonesia's M. Purkon who took bronze with a total lift of 237 kg (107-kg snatch and 130-kg clean and jerk).

Indonesia has taken the lead in the karate's medal tally with two gold out of a total of four up for grabs on Tuesday, one silver and one bronze followed by Iraq with one gold, Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia with one silver respectively, and Egypt and Malaysia with one bronze respectively.

Indonesia collected the fourth gold medal on the day from the swimming pool, courtesy of Sidiq Triadi Fauzi, who won the men's 50-meter butterfly final.

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