China down to earth at junior athletics meet

JAKARTA (JP): Defending champion China is keeping a low profile as the fifth biannual Asian junior track and field championships swings into action tomorrow.

" Our athletes are still very young and we want to learn from the other teams," Chinese deputy team leader Wang Yunfeng told reporters. Wang said his 30-strong team had little preparation time for their championship debut., only a week-long centralized training camp in Beijing.

"We do not set a certain target here, but we pledge our best," Wang said when the journalists kept pressing him to voice a pre- match boast.

Most of these young Chinese are going to sports colleges in their home provinces and are expected to emulate their predecessors, now among the world's big guns. China holds 21 Asian junior records since the event began in Jakarta eight years ago.

"South Korea, Japan and the former Soviet republics are our major challengers," Wang said. He sees China's chances as greater for the ladies than for the men.

The four-day competition will field 519 athletes from 30 countries, the biggest number of entries ever for the biennial event.

World women's 1,500m record holder Qu Yunxia was practically raised at the junior championships. Her tournament record of 4.11.89 minutes, set in 1990, remains unchallenged.

Bringing the biggest squad of 48, Japan looked set to dethrone China. "We picked athletes whose performances are nearing Asian standards," said head coach Abe Satoshi. Japan is also powered by Takano Nao, who will compete in the women's 400m hurdles in the upcoming Asia Games in Hiroshima.

"Of course we want to be number one. We come here to win," Abe said. Japan finished second behind China in New Delhi two years ago.

The host team, to the contrary, expressed no guarded optimism of matching its big rivals. "This tournament will give a lot of experience to our athletes, preparing them for international levels in two or four year's time," Mohammad (Bob) Hasan, chief of the Indonesian track and field association (PASI) said.

Bob is also the president of the Asian Amateur Athletics Association which sanctions the championships.

The Indonesian team is made up of 19 boys and 19 girls. (amd)