Men's sprinters vague of SEAG target

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's men's sprinters doubt their chances of winning medals at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Kuala Lumpur in September, following their poor performances in the local championships here.

The sprinters, however, were adamant of being able to improve on their best times in the one month remaining before the event. The Indonesian Amateur Athletics Association (PASI) has also shied away from targeting gold in the men's 100m and 200m events.

"We are not too hopeful in the sprints as I only expect the sprinters to perform well in the relay. We aim to take a medal," the men's sprint coach, Effendi, said on Tuesday.

PASI has selected Sukari and Erwin Heru Santoso as the core team and will decide later whether or not to include Rika Fardani. Sukari, Erwin, Subakir and M. Rusli will compete in the 4x100m relay.

"I am still training hard to improve on my best time. I'm very optimistic of finishing second or third in the relay," Sukari said after training.

Sukari clocked 10.70 seconds in the second leg of the national Grand Prix series on July 15 here, followed by Rika and Erwin, who both came in at 10.71.

The times fell far short of the benchmark time limit 'B' of 10.65 set by PASI for 100m sprinters to be eligible for the SEA Games. The limit 'A' is 10.50, which is considered necessary for core team members. There are no time standards for the 4x100 relay event.

"We can't judge our performance from the results in one event. I see that my form has been improving since the National Championships in February until the Grand Prix. I think I can reach the time standard 'B' in more than one month," Erwin said.

In the 1999 SEA Games in Brunei Darussalam, John Murray managed to take a silver in the 200m. He also won silver in the 4x100m relay along with Subakir, Sukari and Mahmud Hamzah. The quartet also qualified for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

John returned to his hometown in Irian Jaya before the first track and field national Grand Prix here on July 1 and has not shown up at the training center since.

Another athlete forming the backbone of Indonesia's team, Yanes Raubaba, quit the training center and returned home to Biak, Irian Jaya, following his failure to perform well at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Coach Pieter Noya said he had earlier warned PASI that it must not send men's sprinters to the SEA Games.

"Where will the medal come from?" he said.

Pieter said the men's sprinters did not improve much in the local championships here as some of them had passed their prime.

At the 2000 National Games (PON) in East Java, Yanes set a new national record of 10.13, followed by Erwin in 10.16 and John in 10.23. Yanes broke the national record of 10.20 set by Mardi Lestari at the 1989 PON. The three sprinters qualified for the Olympics.

"Shortly after the PON, the men's sprinters vanished. There are no sprinters who can break through the 10.30 or 10.20 time barrier. The younger sprinters can only run up to 10.70 or 10.80. But they can run faster and it takes time before they can run below 10.50," Pieter said. (ivy)