Southeast Asian Games: Indonesia strike gold as footballers reach final

Indonesia's footballers set up a mouth-watering final clash with Malaysia, as a gold spree by their badminton stars extended their medals lead at the Southeast Asian Games on Saturday. Indonesia were on 138 golds in a bulging 350 medal tally late Saturday with three days of competition remaining, two golds short of what the Games' organisers have calculated they need for their first overall win since 1997.
A see-sawing battle saw Thailand claim their 85th gold to jump into second over Vietnam, five ahead of their rivals in what is shaping up to be a photo-finish with a flurry of medals still up for grabs. But the gold most coveted by fans is in the under-23 football event, which Indonesia will contest with their arch-rivals Malaysia on Monday night after beating a determined Vietnam 2-0 in front of 90,000 home fans.
Goaless at half-time, Indonesia broke loose in the second half re-discovering the buccaneering form of their first three group games, scoring two goals through Papuan pair Patrich Wanggai and crowd favourite Titus Bonai. Before the match coach Rahmad Darmawan vowed his side had the measure of the free-scoring Vietnamese, and the hosts were a much improved side after key players who sat out their last group game were restored to the starting line-up.
Earlier Malaysia ended plucky Myanmar's dreams of an unlikely gold, with a 1-0 victory booking a place in the final, where they will fancy their chances of defending their title after victory over Indonesia in the group stage. Elsewhere the hosts' domination of the badminton court continued as they secured four golds out of five up for grabs on Saturday.
In four hours of gripping play the crowd saw men's doubles pairing Mohammad Ahsan and Bona Septano upset the odds to beat reigning Olympic champions Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan in straight sets. Women's pair Anneke Feinya Augustine and Nitya Khrishinda then won their all-Indonesia final while Tantowi Ahmad and Liliyana prevailed 2-0 in the mixed doubles against Thailand's Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoungthongkam. Only the fancied Adriyanti Firdasari failed in her gold quest as Singapore's Fu Mingtian came back after dropping the second set to win the women's singles 2-1.