RI athletes to run in Australia Open

JAKARTA (JP): Three national sprinters -- Irene Truitje Joseph, Yanes Raubaba and Johannes Murray -- will join a selection process to be able to compete in the Australia Open track and field championships in Sydney from Feb. 24 to Feb. 27, coach Pieter Noya said on Thursday.

"The fittest athletes will compete in the tournament," he said, adding that the three would run in the 100m and 200m events.

Pieter hoped Irene and Yanes could improve their personal bests to meet the time limit for the 2000 Olympic Games standard A qualification.

The limit standard A for women's and men's 100m dash are 11.40 seconds and 10.27 respectively. The limit for women's and men's 200m dash are 23.20 and 20.70 respectively.

Irene has qualified for the Olympics standard B after clocking 11.56 in the women's 100m dash in the 1999 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games. Yanes also qualified in the 100m dash with a time of 10.40 seconds.

The national men's 4x100m -- comprising of Yanes, Murray, Subakir and Machmud Hamzah -- have also qualified for the Olympics by clocking 39.95 seconds. (ivy)