Jakarta wins national junior athletics meet

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta team won the three-day National Junior Athletics Championships with six golds, three silvers and three bronzes at Senayan Madya Stadium on Wednesday.

Central Java was second with five golds, four silvers and seven bronzes, followed by East Java's Student Training Center (PPLP) with five golds for third place.

Secretary-general of the Indonesian Amateur Athletics Association (PASI) Barmawi Chaidir hoped the championships could serve as an arena to observe the development of young athletes with potential.

Former top national sprinter Purnomo Yudi Wijaya was satisfied with the results.

"Some of the winners are being groomed in the national training center here, but many are local products from PASI provincial chapters. That's a good start for talent scouting to pick national athletes."

Yolanda Worsiwari of Irian Jaya PPLP, which won the gold in the 4x100 meters relay in the Malaysia Open last week, was the best girls' sprinter at the meet with a time of 12.15 seconds in the 100 meters. Endang Kusmiati of East Java finished second (12.57) and Hermahayu of Central Java PPLP was third (12.60).

Mahmud Hamzah of North Sulawesi won the gold in the boys' 200m in 21.84 seconds, which was under the National Games (PON) qualifying time of 22.00 seconds. Qurais of West Nusa Tenggara PPLP followed in second (22.23) and I Wayan Eka Sugiantara of Bali finished third (22.52).

Two girls' triple jumpers, Wiwik Suryani of East Java PPLP and Milla Karmila of West Java, qualified for PON. Wiwik jumped 11.28 meters and Milla recorded 10.72.

Rini Budiarti of Yogyakarta clocked 4:49.90 in the girls' 1,500 meters, barely inside PON's qualifying time of 4:50.00. Lusi Ariani of West Sumatra followed in second (5:05.66) and Noorlitha Arianti of West Kalimantan finished third (5:09.82.). (yan)