Indonesia inched closer to a century of golds at the Southeast Asian Games Thursday as the hosts tightened their hold on the medals table hours ahead of a key grudge match against bitter rivals Malaysia. Vietnam had earlier cut the deficit with Indonesia, after claiming four more golds in pencak silat - an Indonesian martial art - which took them to 66 first places and stretched their lead over third placed Thailand.
But the irrepressible hosts scored three pencak silat golds of their own to reach 98 first places with evening events still to be contested. They have already doubled their entire 2009 Games tally. The Thais, 2009 SEA Games table-toppers, have stalled in the medal charge after bouncing back from a disappointing start to the 26th edition of the Games with a strong showing in the headline athletics events and have 61 golds.
Meanwhile, an eight-year-old Malaysian girl stormed into the record books after becoming the youngest athlete to take gold in Southeast Asian Games history with a win in the water skiing tricks event. Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah claimed gold in the female final at the Jakabaring Lake in Palembang ahead of her nearest rival - who is aged 34.
As night fell the focus turned to the football pitch where 90,000 fans were expected to watch Indonesia's footballers take on defending champions Malaysia, with home supporters demanding a win over their arch-rivals. Crowds tooting horns and waving Indonesian flags had gathered outside the giant Gelora Bung Karno stadium in central Jakarta several hours before kick-off.
The hosts, eyeing football gold for the first time in two decades, play Malaysia in the final group game having already qualified for the semi-finals of the under-23 tournament after three wins. Malaysia need a point to book a place in this weekend's semis, or to avoid defeat by more than three goals, but Indonesia will relish the chance to boot their nemeses out of the tournament.
The heat was turned up on the tie after Malaysia's chef-de-mission blasted Indonesian fans for their relentless barracking of their arch-rivals. "These Games are a venue to foster solidarity among ... the 11 SEA countries," Datuk Naim Mohamed told the Malaysian Star newspaper. "However, their (Indonesia's) fans have shown no respect to Malaysia and to our national anthem.
"They are not behaving like gracious hosts. They still have a grudge against Malaysia because our football team beat them in the final of the AFF Suzuki Cup here last year." Both coaches have pledged to go for a win with national pride at stake and a tie against surprise package Myanmar or the free-scoring Vietnam awaiting.
Indonesia's coach Rahmad Darmawan told the Jakarta Globe that he harboured no fears over his opponents in the next round. "Vietnam is an aggressive attacking team with good organisation. Burma (Myanmar) is very good at defending their turf and their players have been playing with great fighting spirit," he was quoted as saying.
"Our focus now is to win against Malaysia." Malaysia's coach vowed his players would go all out to upset the unbeaten hosts as they chase a title defence - Malaysia beat Vietnam in the 2009 Games final. "If we are to become champions, then this is the match we have to win," Ong Kim Swee was quoted as saying by the Malaysian Star newspaper.
Meanwhile in the badminton arena, Indonesian former Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat progressed to the semis of the men's singles with a 22-20, 21-12 win over Malaysia's Daren Liew. He joins home favourite Simon Santoso, Thailand's Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk and Singapore's Derek Wong, who beat world number seven Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam in straight sets, in the last four. The biennial SEA Games sees 11 nations compete for bragging rights with hundreds of gold medals up for grabs.