Indonesia added two gold medals to its tally at the Asian Games from the extreme sports of speed climbing and accuracy paragliding on Thursday, making the host country fifth in the medal ranking with a total of eight gold medals, six silvers and 10 bronzes.

Sporting powerhouse China, meanwhile, continues its domination and has now scooped 55 golds, 40 silvers and 21 bronzes at the quadrennial sporting event, excelling especially in swimming, wushu and rowing. China crossed the mark of 50 golds just before noon on Day 5 with Quan Xin’s victory in the men’s kayak final.

Japan trailed far behind with 25 golds, 28 silvers and 33 bronzes. Its swimmers finished the evening with 17 gold medals, one more than China, as the fierce rivals head into the final day like a pair of punch-drunk boxers unable to land the killer blow.

Meanwhile, South Korea is currently in third place with 25 gold medals, 28 silvers and 33 bronzes.

Making its Games debut at Jakabaring Sports City (JSC) in Palembang, South Sumatra, sport climbing has proven to be an advantage for the host.

In an all-Indonesian final Aries Susanti Rahayu defeated Puji Lestari after clocking in at 7.61 seconds, 0.37 seconds faster than her compatriot. China’s He Cuilian defeated her compatriot Song Yiling by finishing in 7.79 seconds.

Despite winning the gold medal, Aries was not satisfied with her performance, given that she had needed only 7.39 seconds at the World Championships in Moscow back in April.

“I lost my focus in the final, whereas concentration is the key for a climber to set the best time,” said the 23-year-old, who ranks fifth in the world, adding that during training she had achieved a time of 6.88 seconds.

“My next target after the Asian Games is to [improve on] my personal record so I can be better than climbers from Russia and France,” she said.

Silver medalist Puji praised Aries’ success and said she hoped Aries could one day be the best in the women’s speed category.

Compatriot Aspar earned a bronze medal in the men’s speed climbing, losing to eventual champion Reza Alipourshenazandifar of Iran and Zhong Qixin of China.

“I was distracted when I saw my rivals’ speed at the start of the race, but I managed to catch up,” said Aspar, who had lost to Zhong in the semifinals by only 0.01 seconds.

The referee called a failed start for Zhong in the final climb.

Alipourshenazandifar clocked in at 5.48 seconds to claim gold. He said he was proud of his achievement, even though he had not been as fast as during the World Championships.

Indonesian coach Hendra Basir was proud of his athletes’ performance at the event.

“Our results are on track, although we had aimed for Aspar to earn a silver medal,” he said.

Hendra said Indonesia still had a chance in the men’s and women’s combined events. “We’re upbeat we can earn more medals.”

Paraglider Jafro Megawanto snatched the gold medal in the men’s individual accuracy category at Gunung Mas in the Puncak mountain resort in West Java, with a score of 79 in 10 rounds, lower than that of his 32 rivals from 17 countries.

Thai Jirasak Witeetham earned silver with 251 points, while Lee Chul-soo of South Korea took the bronze medal with 328 points.

Jafro said he had only focused on the landing target, so that he could earn a perfect score. Until early August, Jafro was placed fifth in the Accuracy World Ranking.

A day earlier, Jafro — together with his compatriots Aris Apriansyah, Roni Pratama, Joni Efendi and Hening Paradigma — contributed another gold medal to the host country’s haul in the men’s team accuracy competition. Indonesia still has a chance to earn more medals from the men’s team cross country.

Rika Wijayanti took home a bronze medal in the women’s individual accuracy competition, losing to Nunnapat Phucong of Thailand, who won gold, and silver medalist Lee Da-gyeom of South Korea.

Rika and her colleagues Lis Andriana and Eka Nesti Wulandari are expected to win more medals in women’s team cross country.

The competitions in paragliding, which is making its debut at Asiad this year, were marred with accidents on Wednesday, as Wang Jianwei from China and Lida Hoozori of Afganishtan were rushed to the hospital after a sudden drop in the wind that sent them falling to the ground from 15 meters, AFP reported.

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