Indonesia Open counts as SEA Games nears

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia is using this year's Indonesia Open Track and Field Championships to select prospective athletes for the 18th Southeast Asian Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in December.

"The forming of a tentative track and field team for the SEA Games will be based on the results at the championships," said Sumartoyo, the organizing committee chairman.

The international track and field meet, being held at the newly-renovated Senayan Madya stadium, starts today and will wind up on Sunday.

Sumartoyo added that for provincial athletes, the meet also serves as a qualifying round for the 14th National Games next year.

A total of 395 athletes from all the country's 27 provinces and those from Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Chinese Taipei are taking part in the four-day event. Australia, which took part in last year's meet, opted out of the tournament.

Sumartoyo said that Malaysia would field its SEA Games-bound athletes, Thailand would be with some of its top runners and Taipei sent only its junior athletes.

The open meet will feature all track and field events except marathon and 50km walk. It is offering a total of 44 gold medals.

Meanwhile, secretary-general of the Indonesian Track and Field Association Pramono Kartohadiprodjo told The Jakarta Post that Indonesia will send only a male and a female javelin throwers to the World Track and Field Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden next month.

The two are Frans Mahuse of Irian Jaya and I Ketut Mudiani of Bali. Mahuse made his best throw of 75.58m in Kuala Lumpur in 1991. Mudiani's best throw was 44.25m, far shorter than the national record set by Tati Ratnaningsih. "Tati will miss the World Championships due to a dispute concerning the province to which she belongs," Pramono said.

Pramono said that Indonesia has chosen to take part in the javelin throw instead of other events for psychological reasons. Two years ago, Indonesia sent Erwin Heru Susanto in men's 100m.

"Erwin was totally outclassed by his world-class opponents. This was not only embarrassing, it was traumatic," he added.

"In the javelin throw, spectators cannot directly observe the distance of your throw. Nor can they directly compare it with the throw of your counterparts," Pramono said. (arf)