Asia's best set for track and field championships here
Asia's best set for track and field championships here
JAKARTA (JP): The 11th Asian Track and Field Championships
next week could bring back to Indonesia some of the World
Championship limelight from Gothenburg, Sweden, organizers say.
Gurmilang Kartasasmita, vice chairman of the organizing
committee, said yesterday that most of the Asian athletes who
shined in Sweden last month have confirmed their participation in
the athletic meet slated for Sept. 20 to 24 at the Senayan Madya
stadium.
World heptathlon champion and Asian Games gold medalist Gada
Shouha of Syria, steeplechase bronze medalist Saad Shadat from
Saudi Arabia, women's 100m hurdle silver medalist Shishigina of
Kazakhstan, and Zhang Xiying of China, silver medalist in the
women's shot put, will be among Ma Junren's prodigal women.
Two fixtures in Ma's army of China have also confirmed their
entry: Wang Junxia and Qu Yunxia, who shattered the 10,000m and
3,000m world records, respectively, in the 1993 world
championships in Stuttgart, Germany, but flopped in the national
selection for the Gothenburg meet.
The continent's cream of the crop are scheduled to arrive here
as early as Sept. 15, Gurmilang said.
"We especially ask international communities here, including
students of international schools, to come and see a great parade
of the world's track and field champions from the continent,"
Gurmilang added.
The winners of the championships here will represent Asia at
the Athletic World Cup Championships next year. The world track
and field body IAAF, however, has yet to set the place and date
for the world meet.
President Soeharto is scheduled to officially open the Asian
meet on Sept. 20. The men's 100m and women's 100m heat races will
follow immediately.
A total of 544 athletes from 34 member countries of the Asian
Amateur Athletic Association (AAAA) are expected to make a trip
here. AAAA has 45 members.
The organizers have received their entry forms. They include
47 athletes from China, 56 from Thailand, 23 from India and 39
from Japan. Host Indonesia will step onto the track with 53
athletes. (arf)