R

eigning champion Thailand came out the winner of most golds on Friday to overtake Singapore at the top of the medal tally with the 28th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games four days away from the conclusion of the two-week competition.

Thailand, which wrested the overall championship title from Indonesia in the 2013 games in Myanmar, hauled in 16 golds to top the standings with 71. Singapore, which had led the gold chase since day one, was relegated to second place with 70 gold medals.

Vietnam, which had been involved in a tight rivalry with Thailand, was in a distant third place with 62 golds.

Thailand turned the closing day of the track and field competition at the National Stadium into a parade of its athletes, who won seven golds, while Indonesia had to be content with a single gold.

Rini Budiarti recovered from a stumble midway through the women'€™s 3,000-meter steeplechase to finish first in 10 minutes and 20.4 seconds for Indonesia'€™s last gold and seventh overall. She was followed by Vietnam'€™s Nguyen Thi Phuong who clocked 10:32.61 and the Philippine athlete Jessica Lynn Barnard who completed in 10:36.90.

It was Rini'€™s third consecutive SEA Games gold and the 32-year-old said that her Singapore appearance would be her last Games.

'€œI want to focus on my family. I feel sorry for my child, whom I often leave alone,'€ she said after the race.

However, she said she would still compete in the 2016 National Games in West Java, before quitting the sport completely. She failed to improve on the Games record of 10:00.58 that she set in 2011.

In the other events, Indonesian athletes mostly flopped against their opponents. Atjong Tio Purwanto was outpaced in the men'€™s 3,000-meter steeplechase by gold medalist Christopher Jr. Ulboc of the Philippines and silver medalist Tien San Pham of Vietnam.

In the men'€™s 4-by-400-meter relay, Fadlin, Iswandi, Yudi Dwi Nugroho and Yaspi Boby also languished in third place behind Thailand and Singapore.

At the Bedok Reservoir, Febrianto and Dimas Ridho Suprihono made a one-two finish in the men'€™s trick waterskiing competition. Women skiers Galuh Mutiara Maulidina and Nur Alimah Prambodo brought home another two silvers from the women'€™s wakeboard and the women'€™s trick event, respectively.

In Hall 2 of the Singapore Expo, where taekwondo began its three-day competition, Reinaldy Atmanegara dominated Muhammad Azri of Malaysia in the men'€™s under-54-kilogram final to win gold for Indonesia.

Maulana Haidir won silver and bronze in men'€™s individual poomsae and men'€™s team poomsae. Mutiara Habiba also took bronze in women'€™s individual poomsae.

In badminton, the men'€™s team made amends for the failure of the women'€™s team by defeating Thailand in the final, which had to be decided in the third game of the fifth tie.

After the two teams shared the first two ties at 2-2, both rested their gold hopes on their respective third men'€™s singles players. As it turned out, Ihsan Maulana Mustofa recovered from the opening game jitters to seal the match 20-22, 21-16, 21-9 over Suppanyu Avihingsanon.

At the end of the match, teammates and officials ran onto the court and mobbed Ihsan in euphoria. Ihsan'€™s winning run added the last gold to the total count of 33, enough to keep a distance from the Philippines, but still far below Malaysia'€™s 38 golds.

In the Orchid Country Club, Indonesia'€™s bowling team won silver in the men'€™s team of five event, after having been beaten by Malaysia.

The Indonesian golf team could only snatch two silvers and a bronze in the competition dominated by Thailand, which got away with all four golds on offer.

In the Kallang squash center, the Indonesian men'€™s team shared bronze medals with the Philippines while Lavinia Tananta won bronze in the women'€™s singles tennis competition.