Indonesian athletes are on a roll securing a place in the top three at the 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in the Philippines after collecting more golds than closest rival Singapore. With the victorious news from Indonesian athletes continuing to come in, the country now sits in third place with a total collection of 102 medals, comprising 27 gold, 36 silver and 39 bronze.

The shooting team is among the stars as it surpassed its target of three golds and delivered five gold, four silver and two bronze medals instead. The latest two golds were delivered on Thursday by Vidya Rafika Rahmatan Toyyiba and Fathur Gustafian, who competed in the 10-meter air rifle mixed-team category. The other gold was secured by Fafan Khoirul Anwar through the benchrest air rifle heavy varmint individual category.

“We are grateful that today we could deliver two more golds and a bronze medal,” the secretary-general of the Indonesian Target Shooting and Hunting Association (Perbakin), Firtian Judiswadarta, said as quoted by Antara news service.

Anung Satrio Wibowo secured the bronze medal from the benchrest air rifle heavy varmint individual category.

Firtian said his athletes had shown a significant improvement as the team had only been able to bring home one gold from the 2017 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur.

The road to victory continued with a story of self-redemption for judoka Iksan Apriyadi, who competed in the men’s 73-kilogram category and struck gold after defeating Nguyen Tan Cong of Vietnam in Thursday’s final bout. Nguyen took silver and behind him was Ace Ang of Singapore and Keisei Nakano of the Philippines, who were jointly awarded the bronze.

Last year, Iksan offered a public apology after he failed to secure a medal having been beaten by Qing Daga of China at the 2018 Asian Games’ qualifiers. Iksan at the time vowed that the defeat would not deter him.

In the cycling arena at Praying Hands Monument Tagaytay City, cyclist Aiman Cahyadi, who competed in the individual time trial category, secured the sport’s first gold medal. Aiman clocked 58 minutes and 37 seconds, followed by Thanakhan Chaiyasombat of Thailand in 59 minutes, 28.54 seconds, who secured silver and Singapore’s Choon Huat Goh in 60 minutes and 14 seconds.

Coach Rastra Patria Dinawan praised Aiman’s achievement, saying that it was the result of hard work and rigorous training. Rastra also acknowledged that, given its restricted facilities, the team did not initially expect any medal from this category.

“We praise Aiman’s determination and strong will to exceed the target. The key is in the strict training regime. We were still training during yesterday’s typhoon,” he said. Rastra said the team still saw opportunities to get more medals from two categories, the team time trial and individual road race.

In the pentathlon at Subic Bay Boardwalk, while almost everyone suffered from the scorching sun, the Indonesian athletes were unfazed taking two golds in the men’s and women’s individual beach laser run categories.

Indonesian pentathlon team chief trainer Glenn Clifton said the climate resembled that of Ancol and this prevented his athletes suffering heatstroke.

“We have been lucky to have spent so much time training in places like Ancol that share similar characteristics to here. Our athletes could survive the heat,” Glenn said.

Dea Salsabila Putri, who competed in the women’s individual beach laser run category, secured the gold medal, clocking 15 minutes and 23.59 seconds, while her teammate Muhammad Taufik came out on top in the men’s category by clocking 13 minutes and 2.24 seconds.

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