Desi breaks national pole vault record by 20cm

JAKARTA (JP): One national record was broken on the third day of the national track and field championships on Sunday as Ni Putu Desi Margawati of West Nusa Tenggara jumped 3.50 meters in the women's pole vault event.

Desi broke the old record of 3.30m created by Alia Basalamah of Jakarta in July. Alia sharpened her own record by jumping 3.40m for the second place while the bronze went to citymate Emrina with 2.50m.

Desi stopped at 3.50m although she had the chance to try for 3.55m.

"I'm really surprised with the result. I encouraged myself to jump higher. I wanted to surpass the record of 3.40m made by Malaysian Roslinda Syamsu which was created at the 1999 Asia junior championships in Singapore," said the 18-year-old student of the Rawamangun School of Economy, Central Jakarta.

Alia said she had reduced her training sessions due to her studies at the School of Medicine at the state-run Yarsi University, Central Jakarta.

"I'm busy with my studies. I want my studies and my sporting achievements go along together," she said.

Alia only trains seven times a week while Desi trains 11 times weekly.

"I have no difficulties in dividing my study time with practice," Desi said.

Irian Jaya, whose athletes bear the morning star on their costumes symbolizing independence, tops the standings with seven gold, five silver and seven bronze medals. East Java trails in second place with six gold, five silver and five bronze medals. Central Java is third with three gold, seven silver and four bronze.

"We have agreed with our coach to bear the morning star sign on our costumes. It helps boost our motivation," said Onesimus Windesi of Irian Jaya, who contributed a gold in the men's 400m dash. He refused to link the sign to any political issue.

The Indonesian Amateur Athletic Association (PASI) deputy secretary general, Tigor Tanjung, said Indonesia's men's 4x100m relay team had qualified for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Tigor said the decision was made in an International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) meeting recently. During the meeting, IAAF officials set a time limit of 40.00 seconds for the quadrennial event.

"Indonesia's quartet won the silver medal in the 1999 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Brunei Darussalam in August by clocking 39.95 seconds," said Tigor. The gold went to Thailand which set a new SEA Games record of 39.11.

The Indonesian men's relay team consists of John Murray, Yanes Raubaba, Subakir and Machmud Hamzah. All the team members competed in the 100m dash in the championships, which also serve as the prequalifying round for the 2000 National Games (PON).

Yanes' personal best of 10.40 seconds in the 100m dash also matches the time limit for the Olympics. However, it is still unclear if he qualifies for the event.

The Irianese said he would try his best to sharpen his record in the Asian track and field championships scheduled to be held here in August next year. (ivy)