Mardi Lestari proves he's still the best

JAKARTA (JP): Mardi Lestari lived up to his billing as Indonesia's best sprinter when he dashed to the men's 100m victory in the Indonesia Open Track and Field Championships at Madya Senayan stadium yesterday.

Though Mardi's mark of 10.48 seconds was good enough to win yesterday, the time was far off his national record mark of 10.20 at the 1989 National Games in Jakarta.

"Yet Mardi's time is good enough for the upcoming Asian Track and Field Championships," noted Pieter Noya, who is preparing Indonesia's track and field team for the Dec. 9-17 Southeast Asian Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Noya is also in charge of the national squad's preparations for the Asia championships slated here for Sept. 20 to 24.

Mardi's national 4X100m relay teammate Erwin Heru Susanto came second with 10.59, followed by Agus Ngamel who set 10.66. Another national relay team member Khodik Juntasi finished only fourth with 10.78.

"The time I set is enough. The most important thing is that I was always in the forefront," Mardi told The Jakarta Post.

"It was an easy win," said Mardi, who is planning to get married in October.

But Noya added that Mardi ran badly. "He looked back several times. He did not need to do that while running at such a high speed," Noya said.

Sri Lankan athletes stole the show yesterday. Women's long jumper Anusha Kariyawasam leapt 5.82m to beat SEA Games Rabaiya of South Sulawesi. Rabaiya managed only 5.79m, leaving her national record of 6.22m safe.

Another Sri Lankan, Thamara Saman Deepika won the women's 100m in yesterday's final in 11.77. She was 0.20 seconds ahead of Nitje Durand of North Sulawesi. Rabaiya, who also competed in the event, finished third with 12.17.

Sri Lanka also excelled at the men's 400m hurdles. Mahesh Parera, who gave Sri Lanka its first gold with his 110m hurdles victory on Thursday, clocked 53.18 seconds to beat Herman Mandagi of North Sulawesi and national record holder Herman Balagaise of Irian Jaya. Balagaise recorded his best time of 51.57 in the 1993 SEA Games in Singapore.

Sri Lanka's coach, Lt. Cdr. Shemal Fernando, told the Post that he is using the open tournament to improve the performance of his athletes for December's South Asian Federation Games in India. (arf)