Tackling East Java's Ambition To Win Double Team Takraw Gold At PON Papua, DKI Jakarta Wins 2-1

DKI Jakarta Vs East Java (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The DKI Jakarta women's sepak takraw (kick volleyball) team thwarted East Java's ambition to win the gold medal for the XX Papua National Sports Week (PON) double team.

Meeting in the final at Trikora Sports Center, Jayapura City, Wednesday, DKI was able to beat East Java 2-1 through a series of tough matches.

In addition to failing to follow their colleagues who won gold in the men's number, the East Java women's team also failed to maintain the gold achievement they recorded in the 2016 West Java PON last.

Launching Antara, for DKI the gold medal achievement is an increase after they only won bronze in the 2016 PON.

This gold achievement is getting sweeter because DKI was previously defeated by East Java with a score of 0-2.

The coach of the DKI women's sepak takraw team, Abdul Gani, implemented a bold strategy by changing the order of the teams he played in the preliminary matches.

A dropout from the women's national soccer team, Jasmini, paired with Dita Pratiwi, was able to win points for DKI in the Team I match after toughly defeating Siti Juwariyah and Aulia Febriani 21-15, 15-21, 21-14.

The Team II match also lasted in three sets, after East Java through Mega Citra and Rani Susanti won the first set 15-21 and DKI won the second set with a score of 21-18 through Alda Aulia and Munawarah.

The third set was tight and DKI almost locked the gold medal, if only East Java had not won 21-19 and won Team II points so that Team III matches had to be played.

East Java, which fielded Maharani Wirowati and Nini Karmila for Team III, opened the first set convincingly and took a 4-0 lead over DKI Indra Yuliasti and Yunita Indria.

However, they failed to maintain that advantage and the DKI pair turned to lead 15-14 to win the first set points 21-18 because Maharani's service came out of the field.

Indra and Yunita continued to show calm playing until finally, they were able to win 21-19 in the second set to lock the gold medal for the DKI sepak takraw team.

"The boys were outstanding, the quality they showed was far above our every training session", said Abdul Gani after the game.

While East Java had to settle for a silver medal, South Sulawesi and the host Papua who were stopped in the semifinals both bagged bronze.