PASI meet noticeable for dearth of records

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Except for the opening women's polevault event, no new records have been broken at the ongoing National Athletics Championship here at the Madya track and field stadium.

National athletics body PASI said it was not surprised.

"We expected such a poor showing at the current championship because there were few athletic achievements made at recent provincial competitions," PASI secretary-general Tigor Tanjung told The Jakarta Post.

"No one is to blame because we have to admit there are major deficiencies in financial and quality human resources," he said.

Tigor said the discouraging results of the ongoing national event was partly due to the fact that most of the participants were junior and are only expected to shine in the 2005 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

After three days of competition, Ni Putu Desi Margawati is the only winning athlete who deserves much credit, after she broke the national polevaulting record on the opening day.

The following days saw winners, but no record breakers.

Meanwhile, despite only winning a gold medal on Friday, West Java maintained its lead with an overall six gold medals on the provisional standings.

East Java and South Sumatra are following with four golds and three silvers each. East Java has the edge though, with one bronze medal.

Dudung Suhendi was the only gold medalist for front-runners West Java on the penultimate day of the competition, which featured athletes from 28 out of Indonesia's 30 provinces.

Dudung registered 47.24 meters in the men's hammer throw to edge behind national record holder Ong Kok Khin of South Sumatra with 46.99 meters and Iskak of Central Java with 46.7 meters.

The winner's distance, however, was 6.1 meters below the national record Ong set at the 1997 SEA Games in Jakarta.

East Java and South Sumatra each ended the day with two gold medals. The Javanese triumphed in the men's and women's 4x100 meter relay, while the Sumatrans were unchallenged in the men's 1,500 meters and women's long jump.

The South Sumatran athletes even made a one-two finish in the 1,500 meters with Yan Bahtiar coming first in four minutes. Tumpak DS finished in two seconds behind.

East Nusa Tenggara also joined the gold spree, winning another two golds in the women's 1,500 meters thanks to Olivia Sadi and in the 5,000 meters thanks to Fery Subnafeu.

Kristian Keise won the men's javelin to earn Papua one of the three golds the contingent has amassed so far.