Foreigners rule Jakarta athletic invitational meet
JAKARTA (JP): As expected, the foreign athletes brought in by timber tycoon Bob Hasan for his one day track and field invitational meet ruled the day at Madya Stadium, managing to give the around 600 locals in the audience a rare treat here on Saturday.
Although most of the international players performed below par, they managed to seize almost all the medals at stake during the event and to draw constant applause from the local fans, mostly comprised of uniformed school children and off-duty soldiers.
One particularly interesting performance was given by Andrew Cason, the American 100 meter sprinter who arrived in Indonesia just three hours before the race.
Cason, overcoming the heat and jet-lag, prevailed virtually unchallenged and clocked 10:24 seconds, well below his best time of 9:98.
Nevertheless, the Indonesian high-school students liked him so much that they did "the wave" for him.
Cason's finishing time, in fact, is well below the Asian record of 10:14, which was established by Talal Mansoor of Qatar.
Qatar himself came in second on Saturday with 10:38.
"What do you expect?" Cason asked reporters. "I just came out of a 20-hour flight."
"I think I still did pretty good considering I had very little preparation and rest," Cason said with a big smile.
Things were not very different in the women's 100m. The favorite, American Flirtisha Harris, came first with a 11:59 finish.
A pleasant surprise at this event was the performance of the dashing former Asian queen of sprint, Lydia de Vega of the Philippines, who clocked 11:87 and came in second.
Harris' finish was well below the Asian record of 11:02, produced by Chinese Liu Xiaomei.
Indonesia
Host Indonesia managed to nick one bronze medal in the event, thanks to Freddy Mahuse, one of the country's best javelin throwers who scored 65.24 meters.
Freddy's performance, however, was still below the national record established by his own brother Frans Mahuse of 75.58 meters.
Saturday's javelin champion was Great Britain's Colin McKenzie whose 76.28 meters throw drew rapturous applause and long admiring "ohs" and "ahs" from the audience.
Another audience favorite was the American triple-jumper Cynthia Rhodes who dominated this event with 13.43 meters. Rhodes acknowledged the fans' support, charmingly waving and smiling at the crowd every time she finished a jump. (hdj)
Results
Men
Pole vault 1. Patrick Manson (U.S.) 5.50 meters 2. Hideji Suzuki (Jap) 5.00 3. Edward Lasquete (Phi) 4.80
100 meters 1. Andre Cason (U.S.) 10.24 seconds 2. Talal Mansoor (Qatar) 10.38 3. Mohd Hosni (Sin) 10.43
110 meter hurdles 1. Anthony Knight (Jam) 14.04 2. Chaminda Fonseka (Sri Lanka) 14.18 3. Chen Ching Hsiung (Tpe) 14.49
1,500 meters 1. Eric Nedeau (U.S) 3:54.45 minutes 2. Kazuo Harikawa (Jap) 3:56.65 3. Hector Begeo (Phi) 3:59.99
Javelin 1. Colin McKenzie (GB) 76.28 metres 2. Kota Suzuki (Jap) 74.12 3. Freddy Mahuse (Ina) 65.24
5,000 meters 1. Hisayuki Okawa (Jap) 14:31.05 2. Alesandro Gomes (Spa) 14:42.92 3. Prasad Bahadur (Ina) 14:43.50
Women
Javelin 1. Louise McPaul (Aus) 57.94 metres 2. Akiko Miyajima (Jap) 49.94 3. Sukon Piromkhory (Tha) 47.84
Triple jump 1. Cynthea Rhodes (U.S.) 13.43 metres 2. Seiko Nishiuchi (Jap) 12.46 3. Nor Aishah Ismail (Mal) 12.17
100 meter hurdles 1. Dionne Rose (Jam) 13.13 seconds 2. Sriyani Kulawansa (Sri Lanka) 13.25 3. Vu Bich Huong (Vietnam) 13.94
800 meters 1. Nekita Beasley (U.S.) 2:04.32 2. Shiny Wilson (Ina) 2:04.34 3. Maurietta Tabangin (Phi) 2:10.75
100 meters 1. Flirtisha Harris (U.S.) 11.59 seconds 2. Lydia de Vega (Phi) 11.87 3. Sachiko Kiso (Jap) 12.19