Indonesia eye more gold at SEA Games

Indonesia eyed a clean sweep of badminton golds on Saturday and a spot in the football final, as they closed in on a first Southeast Asian Games medals table win since hosting the event in 1997. The hosts are guaranteed two more golds in all-Indonesia finals in the men's and women's badminton doubles, promising to boost their tally of 124 and extend their runaway lead over second-placed Vietnam, who have 71 golds. Thailand are vying for second spot with 68 golds and 210 medals overall, while tiny East Timor remain rooted at the foot of the table on three bronzes with just three days of competition remaining. In the badminton, Beijing Olympic doubles champs Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan take on compatriots Mohammad Ahsan and Bona Septano in the hotly anticipated men's final. And more glory could be on the cards later if crowd favourite Simon Santoso can defeat in-form Thai sensation Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk and Adriyanti Firdasari overcomes Singapore's Fu Mingtian in the singles events. But the gold local fans covet is in the men's under-23 football, with tens of thousands expected to cram into the cavernous Gelora Bung Karno stadium in Jakarta Saturday evening to watch the semi-final clash against Vietnam. Vietnam have been in free-scoring form throughout the tournament and are fancied to beat Indonesia, who suffered a disappointing 0-1 loss -- albeit with a weakened side -- against arch-rivals Malaysia in the final group game. Indonesia's coach Rahmad Darmawan told the Jakarta Globe he was not overly concerned about the damage to their confidence by the defeat, after three wins on the spin. "The players now know their weaknesses and will improve the next game," he was quoted as saying, adding that discipline will be pivotal if they are to progress to the final. Vietnam, runners-up in the 2009 Games to Malaysia, are unbeaten and have scored 16 goals and conceded just twice in an impressive run to the semis. "Vietnam is a very dangerous team. Their players are fast and they don't hesitate to play in high gear from the start," Darmawan said. "But we have been preparing a strategy to hold them off. All we need now is just to put all our focus on the game." Defending champions Malaysia play dark horses Myanmar in the other semi-final. The SEA Games, held once every two years, run until November 22 and see 11 nations competing for bragging rights with hundreds of gold medals up for grabs.