Aussies dominate Jakarta track and field meet
JAKARTA (JP): Australia added seven gold medals, bringing its tally to 11, after the second day of the Indonesia Open track and field championships at Senayan Madya stadium yesterday.
The golds were won by Michael Hane in the men's 800m, Craig Jeffrey in the men's 400m hurdles, Craig Furber in the men's long jump, Stephen Dwight in the men's discus, Catriona Larritt in the women's 400m hurdles, Jacon Hooker in the men's 400m and Alice Barrett who triumphed in the women's 400m.
The four previous golds came in the men's hammer throw and pole vault, and the women's 800m and discus.
The fact that the Australians are ruling the roost, however, comes as little surprise to committee chairman Gurmilang Kartasasmita who predicted that Australia's domination was inevitable and that Indonesia would have to be satisfied with a marginal performance.
Gurmilang said that other than the 4X100m relay team, Indonesia fielded no top athletes in the event because they were being groomed for the fifth Asian Athletic Junior championships slated for the same stadium starting on Sept. 17.
However, despite the generally poor showing of the home athletes on the first day, yesterday saw Alex Resmol of East Java break the national record in the men's 800m by clocking 1.50.07, 44 hundredths of a second better than the old mark set by D. Lutrun of Irian Jaya in 1986.
East Javanese women's runner Ester Sumah who strenuously managed to take the bronze in the 800m race on the opening day, again showed that although she failed to win the 400m, she did manage to snatch the silver.
The diminutive Ester ran 56.65, a few steps behind the 55:88 set by eventual gold medalist Alice Barrett of Australia who is much taller than her. However, Ester left her other countrywomen far behind. Third place finisher Marieke Werfete of Irian Jaya clocked 59.16.
Yesterday saw Singapore and Sri Lanka join the ranks of the gold-medal winners. Sprinter Muhammad Hosni, winner of the Singapore Open, bolted off the blocks to win the century dash in 10.48.
Sri Lanka's beautiful sprinter, Susanthika Jayasinghe, took the gold medal, ahead of Australian Anne Deller and Kelly Perkins. National record holder Rabaiya of South Sulawesi tottered in fourth place with a slow 12.14.
Today, the meet's final day, offers 19 gold medals, including the most strenuous event - the decathlon - which is made up of the 110m hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500m.
Today will also see the men's national team in the first 4x100 relay heat and its Singaporean counterpart in the second. (arf)
Medals tally
G S B Australia 11 5 1 Central Java 2 2 4 West Java 1 4 2 East Java 1 2 2 Irian Jaya 1 1 4 Sri Lanka 1 1 2 South Sulawesi 1 - 1 E. Nusa Tenggara 1 - - West Kalimantan 1 - - Singapore 1 - - E. Timor - 2 -