Eddy, Sakeh secure places in RI team for SEA Games

Eddy, Sakeh secure places in RI team for SEA Games

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Eddy Zakaria and Ahmad Sumarsono Sakeh have been cleared to go
to the 2005 Southeast Asia (SEA) Games after passing final
screening, according to an official of the Indonesian Athletics
Association (PASI).

However, of the two, PASI is only pinning medal hopes on
Sakeh.

The 110-meter hurdler Eddy and 200-meter/400-meter runner
Sakeh had been facing removal from the SEA Games team due to poor
performance and injury, respectively.

PASI secretary general Tigor Tandjung said on Monday that
Eddy, who represented Indonesia in the 2004 Olympic Games, would
need full support in order to return to his impressive
performance of last year.

"Eddy is going to the SEA Games, but he might not be able to
win gold as his competitors have already achieved below the 14
seconds mark," he said.

Eddy notched his best time of 14.11 seconds at the Athens
Olympics, but he has since failed to maintain the form.

"He has a psychological problem in getting back to form. He
needs support," he said.

Sakeh underwent focused training in the 800 meters at the
Dieter Baumann Camp in Stuttgart, Germany, early this year, with
a view to enhancing his medal prospects at the 2006 Asian Games.

However, Tigor said that Sakeh, who has recovered from his
injury, would not compete in the 800 meters at the SEA Games.
Instead, he will push for a challenge in the 200 meters and 400
meters.

"According to Sakeh's coach, he has been trained to accelerate
his speed so he will be able to compete for the gold medals in
the 200 meters and the 400 meters," Tigor said.

"I think if he can maintain running around 46 seconds for the
400 meters, he will win gold at the SEA Games."

Sakeh clocked a time of 21.00 seconds and 46.74 seconds to win
the 200-meter and the 400-meter gold medals respectively at last
year's National Games.

PASI now has a list of 26 athletes for the SEA Games squad
after removing seven athletes late September due to poor
performance during the national training program.

The squad will participate in 21 events at the 2005 SEA Games,
which will start on Nov. 27 and go through to Dec. 5, and where
PASI will be looking to win up to seven gold medals.