Champ Greene promises to run under 10 seconds

JAKARTA (JP): World 100 meters champion Maurice Greene of the United States has promised to time less than 10 seconds at the Bob Hasan Invitational Meet at the Madya Stadium, Senayan which starts today.

"I cannot say whether I can create a world record but I am confident that I could run less than 10 seconds," Greene said Thursday.

Greene said it would be difficult to achieve a peak performance as he did at this year's world athletics championship in Athens, Greece.

During the world championships, Greene clocked 9.86 seconds.

Greene further said that he never sees his opponents in any race.

"In any race, I only think of myself to run as fast as possible."

Greene is here at the invitation of Bob Hasan, chairman of the Indonesian Amateur Athletics Association (PASI).

Before coming to Jakarta for the meet, Greene took part in the Grand Prix athletics in Fukoka, Japan.

The 23-year-old racer has been a world class runner since 1986 through his trainer John Smith who has also trained other top racers like Ato Boldon, John Drummond and Marie Jose Perec.

In today's race, Greene will compete against sprinters Michael Greene of Jamaica, his countryman Vincent Henderson, Mohammad Yusuf of Singapore and local runners.

Indonesian sprinters competing in the 100-meter race include Agustinus Ngamel, Yanes Raubaba, Erwin Heru, Ricky Yusuf and Subakir.

Yusuf is using this event as preparation for the coming 19th SEA Games.

The invitational meet has also attracted top men and women runners Roger Kingdom of USA, Silke Renke, Melanie Pasohe, Beat Gummelt (Germany), Katie Anderson (Canada), Svein Peiters (Belgium), Nick Buckfield (Britain) and Shane Haley (Ireland).

A total of 30 racers, both foreign and local, will compete at the invitational meet.

Meanwhile, Emma George of Australia, the world pole vault record holder, promised her best performance.

"I will try to break my own world record of 4.45 meters. I am grateful of being invited and therefore will show by best performance," she said.

Emma started her career in pole vault in 1995 after being trained by Mark Stewart.

She became the Australian champion recording 3.40 meters. She continued improving on the record after she passed 4.28 meters at the Fruit and Veg Classic in Perth.

In the middle of this year, Emma competed overseas and showed progress with a world record of 4.45 meters, defeating Stancey Dragilla of the USA.

Yesterday saw races for local sprinters who were vying for a total cash prize of Rp 1 billion.

Four former local sprinters as well as four sports officials received rewards from PASI yesterday.

The sprinters were M. Sarengat, Purnomo M. Yudhi, Mardi Lestari and Carolina Riupassa while the sports officials were Soerono, Soeweno, Sugiharto and Sayidiman Kartohadiprodjo.

Soerono is a former KONI chairman, Soeweno is a former KONI deputy chairman, while Sugiharto and Sayidiman are former PASI chairmen. (lnt)