Taekwondo brought Indonesia some joy on Tuesday, though a more familiar martial art could prove more fruitful today.
Basuki Nugroho and Catur Yuni Riyaningsih each earned bronze medals for Indonesia at the Asian Martial Arts Games in Bangkok.
Basuki fell in the men’s welterweight semifinals, while Catur lost in the women’s welterweight last four.
Basuki lost 7-2 to old rival Marlon Avenido of the Philippines. He beat the Filipino at the 2007 Southeast Asian Games in Bangkok, the latest of their many matchups, but Avenido managed to exploit his foe’s one key weakness on Tuesday.
“Basuki injured his right knee just before going to Thailand and Avenido took advantage of that by forcing Basuki to use more of his weaker leg in that match,” Indonesia taekwondo team manager Joseph Hungan told the Jakarta Globe on Tuesday. “Besides, they’ve met many times before, so each knew what to expect.”
Avenido lost 5-2 in the final to Korean Lee Gyu Jin.
Catur earned the second bronze of the day after she lost 6-4 to Shaden Thweib of Jordan in the semifinals. Catur made her way to the last four with a 5-2 defeat of Asia Batool of Pakistan.
In men’s bantamweight, Mery Wandra ended his run in the last eight as he lost 4-1 to Mahmood Adel Hameed of Bahrain.
Overall, the taekwondo team contributed one silver medal and three bronzes to Indonesia since the Games began on Sunday.
Despite missing out on the gold medal, Joseph said he was pleased with his team’s performance.
“With only eight athletes, we won one silver and three bronze medals, so I’m satisfied. It shows a better improvement than in last year's Asian Championship,” he said.
Indonesia sent 16 athletes to the Asian Championship in China last year and came home with only one silver, from Fransisca Valentina in women’s fin class.
These results, on the other hand, gave Joseph optimism about the team’s medal chances at the Southeast Asian Games in Vientiane, Laos, in December.
“Our target is at least to retain the gold medal Indonesia won at the 2007 Games,” Joseph said. “And I’m optimistic we can.”
Indonesia still has one more medal chance in taekwondo as Nurul Fadilah will compete in the women’s featherweight quarterfinals today.
Pencak silat, Indonesia’s home-grown martial art, could bring even more joy after two Indonesians reached the finals.
Lutfan Budi Santosa defeated Tran Van Toan of Vietnam 4-1 in the men’s B-class semifinals and will meet Jul-omar Abdulhakim of the Philippines today in the final. Abdulhakim earned his berth with a 5-0 win over Uzbekistan’s Jamoliddin Salimjonov.
I Komang Wahyu Purbasari also clinched an E-class finals berth with a 5-0 win over Joemil Solomon of the Philippines. In the final, Wahyu will face Shafiq Muhammad Nor of Singapore, who defeated Sinhkhone Xayaphomma of Laos 3-2.
Indonesia is seventh out of 10 teams in the medals table with one gold medal, two silver and three bronze. Korea leads the table with nine golds, four silver and two bronze, followed by Kazakhstan (5-2-2) and Japan (5-1-1).
Jakarta Globe
Indonesia Grab 3 Aces in Asian Martial Arts
