SEA Games 5000m (Women): Indonesia take gold and silver as Singapore’s Qua Bi Qi finishes 10th

Story by Rebecca Yip/Red Sports. Photos by Lee Jian Wei and Lim Yong Teck/Red Sports

Qua Bi Qi (#215) of Singapore in action during the Women's 5000m event. She clocked a time 19 minutes and 42.50 seconds to finish tenth. (Photo © Lee Jian Wei/Red Sports)

Qua Bi Qi (#215) of Singapore in action during the Women’s 5000m event. She clocked a time 19 minutes and 42.50 seconds to finish tenth. (Photo 1 © Lee Jian Wei/Red Sports)

Singapore National Stadium, Tuesday, June 9, 2015 — Singapore’s Qua Bi Qi finished 10th in the women’s 5000m race, which saw Indonesia take both the gold and silver medals at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games athletics meet.

SEA Games Record Holder Triyaningsih Triyaningsih of Indonesia established an early lead in the first lap of the women’s 5000m, with Myanmar’s Thet Pyuh War, Indonesia’s Rini Budiarti and Vietnam’s Pham Thi Hue following close behind.

Rini Budiarti caught up with Triyaningsih to lead the pack for a while, but Triyaningsih reestablished the lead to finish with a season’s best time of 16:18.06 to win the gold medal.

Rini Budiarti’s long stride and good pace on Triyaningsih helped her make it a one-two finish for Indonesia. Myanmar’s Thet Pyuh War finished third.

Singapore’s Qua Bi Qi, whose left knee was taped up, fell to the back of the pack early on in the race. Speaking after her 10th place finish with a time of 19.42.50, Bi Qi said, “Yeah I was nursing an injury for about two or three weeks, and I just recovered from a fever as well, so I went into this race not in a very good state and less prepared than I would have hoped to.

“Overall, it was better than my expectations, given the pace that coach and I were discussing that we should go. The timing was actually way better than that.”

“I was very pleased with my performance today. It could have been better, but given the circumstances, it was okay.”

Women’s 5000m Final Results
1st Triyaningsih Triyaningsih (Indonesia) – 16.18.06
2nd Rini Budiarti (Indonesia) – 16.30.85
3rd Thet Phyu War (Myanmar) – 16.54.71
4th Pham Thi Hue (Vietnam) – 17.25.97
5th Truong Thi Thuy Kieu (Vietnam) – 17.49.91
6th Pa Pa (Myanmar) – 17.58.36
7th Lodkeo Inthakoumman (Lao) – 17.58.61
8th Suneeka Prichaprong (Thailand) – 18.06.27
9th Nelia Martins (Timor Leste) – 19.11.00
10th Qua Bi Qi (Singapore) – 19.42.50