Qualified track officials pursued

Qualified track officials pursued

The Jakarta-based Regional Development Center (RDC) is hosting
a five-day education and certification course for track and field
officials.

Experts have long called for standardization among track
officials throughout Asia.

"We aim to improve the quality of athletics officials so they
are ready for the officiating tasks in Asian competitions," RDC
Director Ria Lumintuarso told The Jakarta Post after the opening
ceremony at the RDC headquarters here on Tuesday.

The level 2 course will run until Saturday and have 25
participants from 19 Asian countries and territories: Brunei,
Hong Kong, India, Iran, Japan, Kuwait, Macau, Malaysia, Myanmar,
Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore,
South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia.

RDC is a branch of the International Association of Athletics
Federation (IAAF) with the task of supervising track and field
development in the region.

"The course is very essential given that the success of a
competition depends largely on how the officials, like the jury
and referees can handle matters properly," Ria said.

He said qualified participants could pursue further
certification by sitting in on a level 3 course to be able to
officiate in an international-level competitions.

P. Solomon, the co-lecturer in the course along with Maurice
Nicholas, pointed out the need for the participants to stick to
the rule books when officiating a competition.

"We will make them aware that the rule is there," he said.

About match officiating in Asia, Solomon, a member of the IAAF
Technical Committee, said: "The officiating standards in Asia
have been good. However, re-generation needs to be pursued
further. New qualified officials must be developed in order to be
ready for the task left by the outgoing officials." --JP