National athletics body expects second chance for Desi

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian Amateur Athletics Association (PASI) will give high jumper Ni Putu Desi Margawati another chance to make the team for the 2002 Asian Games, according to a top official.

Desi was among the three athletes PASI was training for the trip to Busan, South Korea, the site of the Asian Games. But a string of poor performances prompted the National Sports Council (KONI) to drop Desi from their plans.

This followed the exit of sprinter Irene Joseph, who was forced to abandon her dream of making the Asiad because of injury.

These departures left PASI with only one athlete for the Asian Games, Yurita Ariani, who will compete in the hammer throw.

However, the association appears to have softened its stance on Desi, and will welcome her back to the training camp if she can improve on her recent showings at next week's National Track and Field Championship here, according to PASI's secretary general Tigor.

"She still has a chance to go to the Asian Games provided that she can jump over four meters at the next national meet," Tigor told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

"If she fares as well as expected we will propose to KONI that they consider giving her a second chance," Tigor said.

More than 350 athletes from 22 provinces have confirmed their participation in the national meet, which will feature 44 events. Eight provinces have yet to send notice about whether they will be sending athletes to the event.

PASI, according to Tigor, is also waiting for KONI's endorsement on its proposal to include Gede Karangasem in its training camp, in light of his results in overseas competitions.

The West Java-based marathoner finished fifth at the Asian Championship in Hong Kong in February, and finished 17th out of 4,000 runners at the Gold Coast half-marathon earlier this month.

"We made the proposal to KONI a few months ago. It's still monitoring him," Tigor said, adding that two tentative overseas outings had been scheduled for the national squad prior to their departure to Busan.

Tigor also said that Yurita had shown some improvement of late, pointing to her performance at a local tournament last month where she set the national record with a throw of 53.67 meters.

Although she only threw 50.23 meters at the Taiwan Open the following month, Tigor said he was confident she could reach 55 meters within the next few months, which would give her a reasonable hope of winning the bronze at the Asian Games.