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)