Athletic meet delayed due to Assembly Session

JAKARTA (JP): The Asian Track and Field Championships and the Asian Amateur Athletics Association (AAAA) congress, initially scheduled to take place at the Senayan Madya Stadium and the Jakarta Convention Center in early August, have had to be delayed for about four weeks due to the holding of the General Session of the People's Consultative Assembly.

Indonesian Amateur Athletics Association (PASI) secretary- general Tigor Tanjung announced on Tuesday that he received a notice from the police on June 23 informing him that the organization would not be allowed to stage the event from Aug. 2 to Aug. 6.

"The police notice said that the event was too close to the session being held in the nearby legislative complex, which is also in Senayan, from Aug. 7 to Aug. 18," he said.

"After we got the information, I contacted the AAAA to ask them to reschedule. The association then agreed to convene an emergency council meeting in Pattaya, Thailand, on July 1 to discuss the problem."

Eight countries -- China, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka -- attended the meeting, which recommended that PASI stage the event from Aug. 28 to Sept. 1.

PASI had originally suggested that the event be delayed until November after the Olympic Games in Sydney in September and the World Junior Championships in Santiago, Chile, in October.

"At the meeting, many Asian countries insisted that we stage the event prior to the Olympics due to their athletes' participation in Sydney. They could lose their peak form if we delay the event for about three months," Tigor said.

"Besides, many countries also want to use the event to qualify more athletes for the Olympics. If we delay the event to November, they will lose the opportunity to qualify."

"By staging the event at the end of August, Olympic qualifiers can go directly to the Athletes Village in Sydney which opens on Sept. 2."

Twenty-seven of 43 AAAA members have confirmed their participation in the championships. China, with 91 athletes, will have the largest contingent while host Indonesia will likely field around 60 athletes at the event.

Some local potential qualifiers, including women's sprinter Irene Truitje Joseph who has qualified for the Olympics in time class B, are expected to improve their times so as to reach time class A.

Good news is also expected in the case of women's long distance runner Supriati Sutono who has yet to qualify for the Olympics due to her protracted foot injury. Supriati, who won gold medals in the just concluded National Games (PON) in Surabaya last week, is expected to be able to qualify for the Sydney games.

Men's sprinters Yanes Raubaba, Erwin Heru and John Murray have qualified for the Olympics in time class A due to their good performances in PON. Yanes clocked 10.13 seconds in the 100m dash followed by Erwin with 10.16 and John with 10.23. The threshold for time class A is 10.27 seconds.

Tigor expressed hope that the police would issue an approval permitting PASI to stage the event at the end of August. He also hoped that PASI chairman Mohammad "Bob" Hasan, who is currently in the custody of the Attorney General's Office, would be able to attend the congress. Hasan, the current president of the AAAA, has been nominated to chair the organization for a third term.

He also said that PASI would call up 51 athletes to start the long-term training program for the 2001 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in the Senayan Madya stadium, the Delta Stadium in Sidoarjo, East Java, and the Pengalengan tea plantation in West Java.

"We hope the National Sports Council (KONI) can start its training program soon so that we can get financial support to call up more athletes to join the training, especially for sprint events." (yan)