Indonesia Open counts as SEA Games nears
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)