Athletic row raises curtain on 14th PON
JAKARTA (JP): The unsettled fate of Central Java women's marathon runner Ruwiyati made for an unpleasant prelude to the 14th National Games (PON) which open today.
Ruwiyati's coach, Alwi Mugiyanto, said yesterday that his 18- year-old protege would decline national duty at the Southeast Asian Games next year if she is barred from participating in the PON's marathon competition.
SEA Games gold medalist Ruwiyati is scheduled to undergo her last medical check-up at Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital this morning as required by the PON organizing committee. At the same time, Ruwiyati is expected to attend the National Sports Day celebration at Merdeka Palace, in which she is slated to receive an award from President Soeharto.
"It's confusing. How can she be in two different places at the same time," Alwi complained.
The PON organizers breached an International Athletic Amateur Federation ruling which prohibits runners under the age of 20 from competing in the marathon. The ruling also requires a clean bill of health.
Dr. Yuslam, a medical official in Central Java, said yesterday that Ruwiyati's fitness tests scheduled for Sept. 2 and Sept. 7, were postponed.
Yuslam said that Ruwiyati was later examined in Semarang and considered fit for the long-distance race.
"We found a little problem on her leg bone but it's been handled already," Yuslam said.
Ruwiyati, the winner of the 10,000-meter at the last PON, is expected to strike a golden hat trick in the 5,000m, 10,000m and marathon.
Central Java's athletic woes continued with the false registration of six runners. The Central Javanese saw their names listed in competitions in which they have not entered athletes.
"It's a big problem. We could lose our medal winning chances in six events," Bambang Siswoyo, Central Java technical director, said after the late finding.
"We will let them compete in the wrong events, anyway," Bambang said.
Tennis
In the tennis elimination round matches yesterday, a cramped Djanuar Radjab retired from his decisive doubles match to give North Sulawesi a 2-1 win over Central Sulawesi in the men's team event. National player Djanuar and his partner Rommy Pioh were trailing 2-4 and one set down against North Sulawesi's Daniel Heryanto and Abdul Kahar when the duel was stopped.
Former national number one Daniel easily put his team 1-0 ahead, but Djanuar pulled level with a hard-earned 6-7, 7-5, 6-3 win over Marco Sitepu in a match lasting over three hours.
Daniel and company will play Lampung in the last Group D match for a place in the second round today.
Favorite Jakarta scored its second straight win in Group C, a 3-0 drubbing of South Sumatra, to move closer to the next round.
On the women's team, Yayuk Basuki-led Yogyakarta also maintained its winning streak by beating West Java 2-1.
The chess competition kicked off with favorites Jakarta and West Java chalking up opening wins. Jakarta beat North Sumatra 3- 1, while West Java downed Riau 3.5-0.5.
Chess, making its first appearance in PON, started a day before the opening ceremony to give players donning the national colors in the Olympics of Chess late this month enough time to rest between events. (amd)