Desy breaks women's pole vault record twice

JAKARTA (JP): Ni Putu Desi Margawati broke the national record for the women's pole vault twice on the final day of the National Athletics Championships, raising hopes that Indonesia might win the gold medal for the event at the Kuala Lumpur 2001 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

Desi, who holds the record for jumping 3.90 meters set during the Taipei Open on March 4, bettered her record to 3.92m on Wednesday before calling it a day with an undisputed new record of 4.00m.

She started with a 3.70m jump at the same time two other athletes, Emrina and Alia Basalamah of Jakarta, failed to clear the 3.50 meter mark after three attempts.

"I was sure that I could break the record today as I reached 2.95 meters several times during training. I jumped the 3.92 meters easily today," she told reporters at a post-match conference.

"I was also sure when I asked them to put the bar at 4.00 meters and I knew that I would make it today. I'm very happy that I could finally clear four meters.

"I decided not to try for a higher mark due to my aching waist. Besides, I still have time to improve my record," she added.

Born on Dec. 19, 1980 in Bima, West Nusa Tenggara, Desi said she hoped to jump higher to secure her way for the Pusan 2002 Asian Games.

"I will work hard to reach 4.15 meters or 4.20 meters to secure my participation in Pusan. As far as I know, the Asian Games record is held by Cai Wei Yan of China, who jumped 4.00 meters," she said.

"With that achievement, I'm sure I can contribute a gold medal."

The West Java contingent dominated the national championships, taking 13 golds, eight silvers and six bronzes from the 43 events.

Following close behind was the East Java contingent in second place with nine golds, six silvers and five bronzes. Jakarta was third with four golds, five silvers and five bronzes.

Meanwhile, secretary-general of the Indonesian Amateur Athletics Association (PASI) Tigor Tanjung said the results showed that athletes competing in several events had yet to reach their best performance level prior to the SEA Games.

"Athletes and coaches have to better their achievements by working much harder in the remaining two months. But I'm glad that our athletes managed to break four national records," he said.

"We also have a fair chance at competing in several events, such as the men's speed walk and the women's discus throw."

Tigor also said that PASI would organize two athletic grand prix events at Madya Stadium in July to provide more opportunities for national elite athletes to compete.

"The first grand prix will be held on July 1 and the second on July 15 with a shortened track and field program. We won't feature all the track and field events in order to save time.

"Participants will be determined by invitation and we have selected 82 athletes to be invited to both events. This is also part of our preparation for the SEA Games."

The first meet will feature the men's 100m dash, 800m dash, 5,000m speed walk and the pole vault and the women's 100m dash, 800m dash, 5,000m dash, the pole vault, hammer throw and discus throw.

In the second meet, the featured events will be the men's 100m dash, 5,000m dash, pole vault, high jump and triple jump and the women's 400m, 1,500m, pole vault and hammer throw.

Tigor also said PASI would send its athletes to several meets abroad to further optimize athletes' achievement.

"PASI will participate in the Asian Junior Championships in Brunei Darussalam from July 19 to July 22 and the Malaysian Open from July 27 to July 29," he said.

"We will also send our young athletes to the World Championships in Edmonton, Canada from Aug. 3 to Aug.12." (nvn)