Hasan may not join AAAA congress

JAKARTA (JP): The presence of Asian Amateur Athletics Association (AAAA) president Muhammad Bob Hasan at a congress to elect a new president is in doubt due to his detention in an Attorney General's Office cell.

Indonesian Amateur Athletics Association (PASI) secretary- general Tigor Tanjung said on Monday that Hasan's lawyer Hotma Sitompul had requested the Attorney General's Office allow Hasan to be present at the congress on Oct. 1.

"We still haven't received any answer from the Attorney General's Office. It will be really difficult if the AAAA president is absent from the congress because he must give an accountability report," he said.

Attorney General's Office spokesman Yushar Yahya told The Jakarta Post that the possibility of Hasan attending the congress was very slim.

"Probably he won't be able to attend the congress," he said.

The AAAA statutes say that should the president be absent, senior vice president, Khalid bin Thani Al-Thani, can replace him.

Hasan and four other candidates -- Al-Thani of Qatar, Eisa Al- Dashti of Kuwait, Suresh Kalmadi of India and Muhammad Imtiaz Ali of Pakistan -- are candidates for the next president for the 2000 to 2004 tenure.

Meanwhile, coach Pieter Noya said that men's sprinter Yanes Raubaba would have a health test on Wednesday to ascertain whether he can resume his training program prior to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Pieter said Yanes would have some two weeks left for training.

"We still have three weeks to go before the Olympics kick off on Sept. 25. Yanes will have to take a rest for one week and hopefully he can return to the track next week," he said.

Yanes, who has qualified for the Olympics in the 100m dash and 4x100m relay, was diagnosed with typhoid but he returned to the training camp at Senayan Madya stadium last Friday.

Women's jumper Nyoman Rae Trisandiana, however, still has influenza. She is expected to qualify for the quadrennial event in the Asian Track and Field Championships here which start next Monday.

"Nyoman is not too fit and we won't force her to compete in the championships," Tigor said. (ivy/yan)