25 Jun 2015
Indonesia dominant at SEA Games
Rowers from seven South East Asian nations competed in eight 500m and ten 1000m events that saw strong performances across the field with every team winning at least one medal. Vietnam (13 medals) and Thailand (nine medals) finished second and third behind Indonesia in the overall count shutting out the remaining nations from the top of the podium. Myanmar (seven medals), Singapore (four medals), and the Philippines (two medals) won a number of both silver and bronze while Malaysia (one medal) took their sole bronze in the men’s pair.
The SEA Games racing schedule was dominated by small boat events, along with the lightweight four for both men and women and the eight for men over the 1000m distance and the lightweight men’s four in the 500m event.
Indonesia’s medals included gold in the men’s eight ahead of of Thailand and Myanmar and gold also in the lightweight men’s four in both the 500m and 1000m distances ahead of Vietnam and Myanmar, and Singapore and Vietnam respectively. Vietnam won the lightweight women’s four event beating out Indonesia and Thailand.
Indonesia was dominant across the men’s events while Vietnam took gold in a number of women’s races. There were some close finishes as well with four of the 1000m finals decided by less than a second.
Thi An Le and Thi Hue Pham of Vietnam captured gold in the women’s pair by a margin of only 0.07 seconds over Syiva Lisniana and Wa Ode Fitri Rahmanjani of Indonesia.
The lightweight women’s four was another exciting final where Vietnam’s Thi Hoa Cao, Thi Hue Pham, Thi An Tran, and Thi Trinh Nguyen bested the Indonesian crew of Chelsea Corputty, Wahyuni Wahyuni, Yayah Rokayah, Yuniarty Yuniarty by 0.22 seconds.
Another close 1000m race came in the final of the lightweight men’s single in which Van Ha Nguyen of Vietnam claimed gold by 0.67 seconds over Thailand’s Jaruwat Saensuk.
The Lightweight men’s double was decided by a 0.99 second margin with the Indonesia duo of Arief and Ihram ahead of Vietnam’s Van Tuan Nguyen and Van Duc Nguyen.
The SEA Games take place every two years, rotating between the various nations of South East Asia. The 2015 Games in Singapore were the 28th SEA Games and took place between 5-16 June. They mark the second time rowing has been included in the schedule of events, the first being in Myanmar at the 2013 SEA Games. The racing was held over two distances during the four day racing schedule 11-14 June that saw 500m finals on day one and 1000m heats, reprechages and finals on days two to four.
The 29th SEA Games will be hosted by Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in September, 2017.
Full results and more information about the SEA Games 2015 can be found on their official site: https://www.seagames2015.com/the-games/sports/rowing