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.