Jakarta stole gold in the women’s indoor hockey to help boost the contingent’s quest to close in on medal tally leader West Java at the 19th edition of the National Games in Bandung on Monday.

In an aggression-filled match, both teams were relentless in seeking the win.

By end of the match, Jakarta’s domination resulted in a triumphant 4-2 score line, leaving Papua with silver. The bronze medals were snatched by West Java and Central Java, respectively.

Jakarta coach Yayan Hendriana lauded his team’s perfect performance, highlighting the team’s solidness in maintaining its domination. He, however, was quite surprised by the Papuans who managed to steal two goals.

“The girls needed to upgrade their speed to respond to the opponent’s defense,” he added.

As of Monday evening, West Java was still on top of the medal tally with 63 gold, while Jakarta sat in second place with 28 and East Java in third with 22.

In wushu, host West Java failed to repeat Sunday’s golden success as it only snatched a bronze in the women’s nanquan and nandao all-round category of the taolu discipline through Christina Agustine’s performance. The gold medal went to North Sumatra’s Juwita Niza Wasni, while the silver went to Ivana Ardelia Irmanto of Yogyakarta.

In archery, East Java managed to book a place in the final round, thanks to Olympians Riau Ega Agatha and Ika Yuliana, who competed at the recent summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Ika will meet Jakarta’s Rina Dewi Puspitasari in the recurve category in the finals, while Riau will meet Dhia Rahmat of Aceh.

Outside the arena, the National Games has recently been embroiled with drama as participating provinces have protested results in judo, equestrian and horse racing.

In judo, East Java and Jakarta intend to file an official protest to the council of judges over possible unfairness over scoring that occurred in their matches.

As for horse racing, nine contingents also filed protests over the plan to give a wild card to the West Java contingent.

Jakarta’s equestrian and horse racing team manager Alex Asmasoebrata said the wild card was not fair because it handed them an opportunity to win without earning their place in the competition. Besides, the wild card mechanism was never regulated in the technical meeting, he added.

Riau manager Sony Dahlan expected the organizer would comply with the regulation and omit the wild card.

Alex also protested the way the horses were being treated during the games. He said their horses were poorly treated while the host team’s horses got first class treatment.

West and Central Java were also involved in dispute over two athletes, Imam Tauhid, a karate athlete and rock climber Toni Mamiri. Central Java insisted the two athletes should compete under their province while West Java responded that it was impossible since they were registered with them.

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