Lajev for Asian track and field meet
Lajev for Asian track and field meet
JAKARTA (JP): Abdul Lajev of Tajikistan, the men's hammer throw world champion, will take part in the 11th Asian Track and Field Championships from Sept. 20 to Sept. 24.
"He told me personally at the Thailand Open that he will come for the Asian meet," Gurmilang Kartasasmita of the Indonesian Track and Field Association said yesterday.
Gurmilang was in Bangkok during the April 20 to April 22 Thailand Open Track and Field International Championships, where he met Lajev.
At the Bangkok meet, Indonesia managed to earn only a bronze medal, which was won by Rabaya in the women's long jump. She managed to grab the medal after jumping 5.64m. The gold and silver medals were both won by host country athletes, who jumped 5.93m and 5.79m respectively.
All of the 45 Asian Amateur Athletics Association member countries are expected to take part in the Jakarta meet.
The Indonesian Track and Field Association has been grooming 20 athletes for both the Asian track and field meet and the Dec. 9 to Dec. 17 Southeast Asian Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
The association also has plans to send them to China in June and July for some local tryouts. Before their trip to China, the athletes will be fielded at the Indonesian Open, which also serves as the National Track and Field Championships, from June 1 to June 3.
In preparation for the Asian meet, the association has been renovating the Senayan track and field stadium since the middle of this month. The Rp 2.4 billion (US$1,090,909) renovation, which is expected to be completed by the end of July, is designed to make the Senayan stadium into a fully Olympic stadium in accordance with the International Amateur Athletics Federation standards.
The facelift of the track and field stadium includes the introduction of a transportable hammer throw protection cage, made of elastic nylon, instead of the fixed iron cage, which is rusty and, as Gurmilang put it, "could be easily broken by Lajev's putting".
The track will be replaced with a kind of synthetic material called balsam, which is also used in Sydney's track and field stadium.
Registration by number for the Sept. 20-Sept. 24 Asian championships must be received by the organizing committee no later than July 20. The deadline for registration by name is Sept. 6. (arf)