Irene breaks own 200m record, star athlete Supriati injured

Irene breaks own 200m record, star athlete Supriati injured

JAKARTA (JP): Irene Truitje Joseph bettered her national
record in the women's 200 meters on the second day of national
athletic team selection for the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games,
but there was a hitch in the plans of favored middle distance
runner Supriati Sutono.

Irene clocked 23.82 seconds, 0.10 seconds faster than her
23.92 recorded during the two-day simulation event held here on
April 30. At that meet she broke the by Henny Maspaitella's 18-
year-old mark of 24.24 seconds.

But Indonesia's best hope Supriati, the 1998 Asian Games gold
medalist, withdrew from the women's 1,500 meters due to a minor
left foot injury. Supriati is predicted to win three golds in the
Games in the 1,500, 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters.

Coach Hary Setiono hoped Supriati could recover in one month
remaining before the Games in Brunei Darussalam.

"This is an old injury she suffered in 1995 but the doctor
said she could still run. That's why we tried not to force her to
run today, to avoid a worse condition," he said.

Coach Pieter Noya said Irene would face a tough challenge from
Malaysian Shanti Govindasamy who clocked 23.49 seconds in the
19th SEA Games here. Another challenge will come from Thai Dokjun
Dokduang with 23.58 seconds and Htay Than Than of Myanmar with
23.69 seconds.

"We hope Irene could reach, at least, 23.60 seconds in the SEA
Games," he said.

Irene hoped the Indonesian Amateur Athletics Association
(PASI) would provide her with a male training partners.

"I think by having a male training partner, I can run faster
because I will be put in a stronger competitiveness situation."

Four national junior records also were broken during Friday's
selection.

In the men's 200 meters, John Muray finished in 21.40 seconds
to break the national junior record of 21.47 seconds set by Mardi
Lestari in 1986. He was outside the national record set by
Purnomo Yudi Wijaya in the 1984 Olympic heats.

Men's long jumper Wisnu Nugroho jumped 7.54 meters, 0.07 meter
longer than the record of Eko Subagyo in Singapore in 1985.

Nyoman Rae Trisandiana jumped 13.14 m in the women's triple
jump, which was 0.35 meters longer than her junior record made
here in 1997. But her jump on Friday was outside her national
record of 13.25 set in Brunei Darussalam last year.

Ponsianus Kahol also broke the junior record in the men's
javelin with a throw of 61.22 meters, 0.04 meter better than
Ketut Sudiana's mark in 1986.(yan)