Indonesian athletes face challenging times ahead<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): With two major sporting events drawing near,
\nIndonesian athletes are faced with a quandary. Both the Asian
\nTrack and Field Championships, which will take place at home in
\nSeptember, and December's 18th Southeast Asian Games in Chiang
\nMai represent significant competitions and an equally significant
\nstrain on Indonesia's young athletes.<\/p>\n
\"The Asian Championships are actually of higher significance
\nthan the SEA Games,\" said Sediono Rijanto, an official of the
\nIndonesian Track and Field Association (PASI), after meeting with
\ntop National Sports Council (KONI) officials yesterday.<\/p>\n
Mochammad Hindarto, the KONI official responsible for the
\nathletes' performances and whom Rijanto consulted yesterday, said
\notherwise: \"Winning the track and field golds at the SEA games
\nremains our target this year.\"<\/p>\n
KONI began a series of consultative meetings yesterday with
\nall of the sport organizations under its supervision, before the
\ncentralized training program for the SEA Games begins.<\/p>\n
The Asian Championships, slated for Sept. 20-24, and the SEA
\nGames highlight PASI's agenda this year, but Rijanto said, \"it is
\ndifficult for us to decide who should be fielded in both meets.\"<\/p>\n
Athletes who compete at the Asian meet will need a certain
\namount of recovery time before they are ready for another big
\ncontest, he argued. Rijanto estimated that they would regain
\ntheir top form by the middle of December.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's 19-strong team left the 1993 Asian track and field
\nmeet in Manila and went home empty handed.<\/p>\n
Indonesian athletes are expected to win medals in sprints, the
\nlong jump and the javelin throw in the Dec. 9-17 SEA Games. The
\ncountry regained its dominance in the track and field events at
\nthe regional sporting meet in 1993 when it garnered 14 golds.<\/p>\n
Rijanto said 25 athletes are preparing at the centralized
\ntraining center here and six at provincial training centers. The
\nsix are Rabaiya in Ujungpandang, Martini Kustiah in Bandung,
\nFerry Junaedi and Triasih Handayani in Central Java, and
\nSoeselisa's sisters of Ira and Judith in Surabaya, East Java.<\/p>\n
Missing is one of the women's sprinters, Ester Sumah, who is
\nsuffering from hepatitis.<\/p>\n
The male athletes are prepared for the 100m, 4 x 100m relay,
\n400m, 800m, 1,500m, 5,000m, 110m hurdles, long jump, javelin
\nthrow, triple jump, decathlon and marathon.<\/p>\n
The female athletes, on the other hand, are training for the
\n10,000m, javelin throw, long jump, heptathlon, and the triple
\njump.<\/p>\n
Rijanto was among four top sporting officials engaged in a
\none-hour consultation with KONI yesterday. Starting yesterday,
\nKONI will meet with each of the 22 organizations.<\/p>\n
Another chairperson who consulted with KONI yesterday was
\nJohni Woworuntu, secretary general of the Indonesian Table Tennis
\nAssociation. He said Indonesia's SEA Games men's team will
\ninclude Anton Suseno, Hadiyudo Prayitno, Al Arkam and Dedi da
\nCosta. The women's team comprises Rosi Pratiwi, Fauziah Julianti
\nand Putri Hasibuan.<\/p>\n
Woworuntu said the team would leave for their overseas stint
\nin Shanghai, China, on March 21 before taking part in the World
\nChampionships in Tianjin, also in China, on May 1-14. (arf)<\/p>",
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