IAAF urges Asia to train more young triple jumpers

IAAF urges Asia to train more young triple jumpers

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)
urged other Asian countries to push for the development of the
triple jump to be able to challenge the rest of the world.

"Except for Thailand, Japan, Korea and China, at the moment
there are not so many countries in Asia where this event is
popular. In South Asia, West Asia, the event has yet to be
popularized," Feng Shuyong, an IAAF lecturer, told The Jakarta
Post here on Monday.

Feng, assisted by Li Jian, both from China, is in Jakarta to
give a lecture at a seminar entitled: 'Training Camp for Women
Triple Jump", being organized by the IAAF's center for the
development of Athletics in Asia, the Regional Development Center
(RDC) Jakarta.

"Therefore, they (Asian countries) have to train more young
athletes. This is the basis in the pursuit of developing the
event," Feng said on the sidelines of the seminar.

In addition to a lack of popularity, lack of competitions and
the unavailability of good quality coaches, according to Feng,
were other barriers to the development.

"We have to organize more competitions. It's important to
provide the athletes with an opportunity to gauge their skills,"
he said.

The seminar, which is scheduled to end this Saturday,
comprises representatives, either coaches or athletes, from eight
of 20 countries grouped under the RDC Jakarta. The participating
countries are Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, the
Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

Brunei Darussalam was to have sent its representatives but,
according to an official of RDC, was deterred by the fear of
SARS.

Feng emphasized the significance of the seminar, saying that
the issue of the quality of the coaches had been one of the
problems which had influenced the improvement of athletics in
Asian countries.

"This training camp is a good opportunity to educate coaches,
because we have more contact between the lecturers and
participants.

"With the athletes also participating, we can observe their
performance, identify the problems and try to get some feedback
and discuss ways to improve, " said Feng, whose protege Huan
Qinyan is the Asian record holder with her best mark of 14.72
meters (just over 48 feet 3 inches).

The Indonesian Athletics Association (PASI) conceded to the
scarcity of triple jumpers on the track.

"The triple jump, along with the long jump and high jump, just
does not draw much interest from the people. We need to get the
word out about the event," Tigor Tanjung, PASI secretary-general,
said.

Among the 41 Indonesian trainees for the upcoming Southeast
Asian (SEA) Games, there are only two female triple jumpers and
no male triple jumpers.