380 to compete at junior athletics championships

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The National Junior Track and Field Championship will start next week with the organizers aiming to scout the country's future talents.

Around 380 athletes from 25 provinces and 11 student training centers (PPLP) will take part in the championships, which will run from Nov. 12 to 14 at the track and field stadium in the Bung Karno Sports Complex.

"The tournament will provide young athletes with the opportunity to test their skills and improve their performance," organizing committee chairman Sumartoyo Martodiharjo announced at a media conference here on Wednesday.

"A monitoring team will be in charge to sort out potential talent to be recruited for a long-term national training camp," said Sumartoyo, who is also a chief of the Indonesian Amateur Athletics Association (PASI) and is involved in tournament and refereeing affairs.

The media conference started two hours late due to a heavy downpour. PASI's top officials, who were to have joined the gathering, failed to turn up and did not provide any explanation for their absence.

In an attempt to clamp down on age falsification, the organizers said they would demand that team officials submit authentic birth documents of their athletes.

The tournament will feature 44 events including the newly introduced heptathlon and decathlon.

Athletes from training centers may compete under the flags of the centers where they were being groomed but the medals won would be for the provinces where they lived.

Defending champion Central Java will compete as the largest contingent comprising 46 athletes -- 38 from the province and 8 from local training centers.

Fielding only three athletes, East Nusa Tenggara will be the smallest team.

Central Java expects a tough challenge from traditional foes West Java and East Java as well as dark horse West Nusa Tenggara.

"Central Java, I guess, remains the prominent stronghold of Indonesian junior athletics given its already popular training centers. West Java and East Java are beginning to show their strength," Sumartoyo said.

Southeast Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, the newly established provinces of North Maluku, Gorontalo and Banten will be absent from the competition.