Thailand tops SEA Games rowing

The 24th Southeast Asian Games in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand featured seven nations and a hotly contested lightweight women’s single.

FISA’s development consultant for Asia, Chris Perry was on the scene and in between boat and athlete weighing, keeping spectators from sinking the pontoons, spotting safety problems, helping doping control officers, and presenting medals, Perry recorded the four days of racing.

Host nation Thailand lived up to the form shown in the preliminary races to finish at the top medals table with six golds, two silvers, two bronzes.

In the first day of finals (Group A), local favorites, Nikree Phuttaraksa and Pheangkatok Bussayamas delighted the crowds by leading the final of the women's lightweight double sculls from the start and drawing away strongly to take gold in a time of 7:33.42. Masi Sri Rahayu and Bertin Bertin of Indonesia came second in 7:43.85 and Nillas Clothelde and Perdita Johna Lyn of Philippines were third in 7:45.68.

Thailand's scullers were at the front of the pack again in the final of the men's lightweight double sculls, taking a lead of seven seconds in the first 500m and never looking back. They crossed the line to add a second gold medal to Thailand's tally in a time of 6:39.49, much to the delight of their Canadian coach Tony Carr. The Philippines, coached by well-known Lithuanian sculler Rolandas Kazlauskas, came home second to take the silver medal in 6:46.52 and Myanmar, coached by German Joern Grosskopf, was third in 6:49.37. Vietnam, who had been in with a medal chance going into the last 250m caught an unfortunate crab in the choppy water and dropped to a disappointing fifth place.

The third race of the day was the final of the women's lightweight four and Indonesia lead away from the start together with Vietnam who maintained contact until the third 500m when Myanmar pushed through to take second. At the line Indonesia was first in 6:46.81, Myanmar second in 6:48.34, and Vietnam faded to third in 6:53.71.

Vietnam's first gold medal of the day came in the men's coxless pair after a very close fought battle with Indonesia. The Vietnamese crew pulled away over the last quarter of the race, coping best with the rough water, to win in a time of 6:43.73. Indonesia was second in 6:48.50 and Thailand third in 6:51.31.

After winning the gold medal in the women's lightweight double scull, Nikree Phuttaraksa was back in action again just two hours later racing in the final of the women's single. Her extensive international experience and strong form allowed her to dominate the race from the first stroke. After 500m she led Pere Karoba of Indonesia by over three seconds and had extended this lead to 10 seconds at the half-way point. After this Phuttaraksa settled to a comfortable rate and maintained the same commanding position all the way to the line to take her second gold medal of the Games. Karoba, a medallist at the last SEA Games in 2005, faded over the second half of the course and was overhauled by Shwe Zin Latt of Myanmar, Dang Thi Tham of Vietnam and Elsie Lim of Singapore. At the finish it was Myanmar who took silver in 8:02.14 and Vietnam bronze in 8:08.34. Lim of Singapore, also a medallist in 2005, was fourth.

The last race of the day was the men's double sculls. This was won by the experienced duo of Benjamin Tolentino and Jose Rodriguez from the Philippines in 6:23.68. Silver went to Thailand in 6:25.72 and bronze to Myanmar in 6:40.73. Theppibal Ruthtanapol, rowing in bow of the Thai double, was able to add a silver medal to the gold medal he won earlier as stroke of the lightweight double.

The fourth and last day of racing featured Group B finals. The first gold medal of the day went to Benjamin Tolentino of the Philippines in the men's lightweight single scull. Jamaludin Jamaludin of Indonesia was the early leader through the first half of the race but at the 1000 metre mark Pantangthai of Thailand had drawn level with Tolentino some four seconds adrift. Going into the last 250, Pantangthai still held the lead but Tolentino, who had already passed Jamaludin, mounted an impressive sprint. With less than 20 strokes remaining, the exhausted Pantangthai wound down to a paddle allowing Tolentino to claim the gold medal in 7:12.02. Pantangthai managed to hold on to silver in 7:19.71 and Jamaludin was third in 7:24.18.

In the women's lightweight single scull, Thailand's complete dominance of the women's sculling events continued as Pheangkatok Bussayamas led comfortably from start to finish and added a second gold medal to that one in the lightweight double yesterday. Her time was 7:58.94. Myanmar's Shwe Zin Latt was second in 8:09.87 – also adding to her silver medal in the open single yesterday – and Mohd Saiyidah Aisyah took the first medal for Singapore in 8:25.45,

Having won the women's lightweight fours yesterday, Indonesia repeated their sweep rowing success by winning the men's lightweight four. In a close-fought race, in which the lead changed several times, the Indonesians overhauled Vietnam to take gold in a time of 6:22.58. Vietnam was second in 6:24.48 and Thailand snatched bronze from Myanmar in 6:25.74.

Theppibal Ruthtanapol won two gold medals for Thailand yesterday in the double sculls events and today he was back again to win a third in the men's lightweight single scull. It was a close race with Aung Ko Min of Myanmar for the first 1000m but Ruthtanapol drew ahead in the second half of the race to win in 7:18.13. Myanmar were second in
7:20.67 and Jose Rodriguez of the Philippines took third in 7:21.65.

The last race of the day produced another win for Nikree Phuttaraksa and Pheangkatok Bussayamas. They led comfortably from start to finish in the women's double sculls. The Thai duo finished in 7:10.70 and have won an impressive four gold medals between them. Second over the line to take the silver medal was the Philippines in 7:21.92 and third was Vietnam in 7:22.42.

Overall medal tally
G S B
Thailand 6 2 2
Philippines 2 2 2
Indonesia 2 2 1
Vietnam 1 1 3
Myanmar 0 4 2
Singapore 0 0 1
Malaysia 0 0 0

Perry concluded, “It remains clear that the (SEA) Games continue to be the most important event for all of the federations in the South East Asian region and programme funding, athlete funding and overall status of different sports depend almost entirely upon the results achieved at this event.”

The event also saw the South East Asian Rowing Federation’s 14th Congress meeting. Mr. Benjamin Ramos (PHI) was elected President for the next two year term. Mr. Nicholas Ee (SIN) Vice President, Mr. Abdul Malik (MAS) Secretary General and Prof. Than Thoe (MYA) Treasurer. Much discussion was devoted to helping establish rowing activities in other South East Asian nations, such as Laos, Cambodia, Brunei and East Timor.

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