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All Thai'd up

Thais win eight boxing golds, take unbeatable overall lead

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Posted: Saturday August 14, 1999 02:39 PM

Suebsak Phunsueb helped continue Thailand's dominance of sepak takraw. AP

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei (AP) -- The heavy hitting of Thailand's boxers and tennis players lifted their nation back into the gold medals lead and out of reach of Malaysia at the Southeast Asian Games Saturday.

Then the Thais iced the cake by winning in eight of the 11 weight classes, and the tennis players captured three titles, helping boost Thailand's total to 64 golds in all.

Malaysia, which had taken the gold lead on Friday, had 54 and a chance to win perhaps four more. On Saturday, it won both field hockey golds -- 1-0 over Singapore for the men's and 2-0 over Thailand for the women's.

Indonesia stood third with 44 after winning the badminton men's and women's singles and women's doubles titles, one boxing gold, one in tennis and one in table tennis.

Somjit Jongjohor started the Thai boxers off by knocking down Commonwealth Games champion Sapok Biki of Malaysia en route to winning the light flyweight gold by a 9-2 decision.

Sutthisak Samaksaman stopped the Philippines' Elmer Pamisa in featherweight, and Komgrit Nanakon stopped Indonesia's Joko Suryono in light middleweight, both in the fourth and final round.

Thailand had finalists in 10 weight classes, and only two lost - Pongsak Hrianthuanthong, 14-0 to the Philippines' Romeo Brin, in light welterweight, and Somsak Janthaporn, who was stopped in the third round by Indonesia's Alberth Papilaya in light heavyweight. Brin was a 1996 Olympic quarterfinalist.

The Philippines' Juanito Magliquian beat Indonesia's Rusli Muhammad 9-2 in pinweight, the only division where Thailand did not have a finalist.

Other Thai winners were Worapoj Petchkoom in flyweight, Wijan Ponlit in bantamweight, Somchai Nakbalee in lightweight, Dechapon Suwannalird in welterweight, and Pornchai Thongburan in middleweight.

In tennis, defending champion Paradorn Srichaphan beat the Philippines' Bryan Juinio 6-3, 6-2 for the men's singles gold, and joined brother Narathorn Srichaphan to win the all-Thai doubles final. Narathorn and Montika Anuchan ran out of steam in the mixed doubles, however, losing to another Thai pair -- Vittaya Samrej and Orawan Wongkamalasai.

The Philippines' Maricris Fernandez beat top seed Wynne Prakusya of Indonesia 6-4, 6-4 for the women's singles gold, but Prakusya came back to win gold in the all-Indonesian doubles final.

Despite leaving some star players at home, badminton powerhouse Indonesia captured golds from Taufik Hidayat's 15-10, 11-15, 15-11 victory over Malaysia's Choong Hann Wong in men's singles and Cindana Hartono Kusuma's 11-5, 11-2 triumph over Thailand's Sujitra Eakmongkolpaisar in women's.

The women's doubles final was an all-Indonesian affair, but in the men's Flandy Limpele and Eng Hian lost 15-8, 8-15, 15-13 to Thailand's Pramote Teerawiwatana and Tesana Panvisavas.

Thailand, the dominant power in sepak takraw, captured its second gold medal in the regional sport here by beating Malaysia 15-4, 15-7 in the regu final. It had won the team final earlier.

Defending champion Praprut Chaithanasakun gave Thailand gold in English billiards by defeating Singapore's Chye Hian Soh 150-67, 119-150, 151-12, 64-160, 150-59 in the final.

Host Brunei, which had a total of three golds from all previous SEA Games, lifted its total here to four with Tengah Tajudin's 25-7 victory over Singapore's Hon Yoong Chai in men's singles lawn bowls. Singapore's Rosemary Tessensohn won the women's singles 25-22 over Malaysia's Saedah Ab. Rahim. Earlier, Malaysia had won the men's and women's pairs and fours.

Malaysian cyclist Shahrul Neeza Mohd Razali won his second gold of the games with a 1.07-second victory over Vietnam's Cong Hieu Mai in the men's 165-kilometer road race. Razali, who sprinted to the front over the last 300 meters, earlier had won the 41-kilometer time trial.

Malaysia also had golds from its women's field hockey team, a 2-0 winner over Thailand, and Choon Eng Chew and Hooi Yee Chor in badminton mixed doubles. They beat Malaysian compatriots Rosman Razak and Norhasikin Md Amid 12-15, 15-6, 15-7.

Indonesia's Anton Suseno and Hadiyudo Prayitno won the men's doubles gold medal in table tennis, while Singapore had golds from Jia Wei Li and Jun Hong Jing in women's dobles, and Tai Yong Zhang and Jun Hong Jing in mixed doubles.

In basketball, the Philippines and Thailand will play for the gold Sunday. The Philippines ended the preliminary round at 6-0 by beating Malaysia 67-38, and Thailand ended at 5-1 with a 94-65 victory over Brunei.

 

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