RI team's poor show closes track meet

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's men's 4x100m relay team yesterday closed the three-day Indonesia Open track and field championships by clocking 40:06, most likely too slow for a medal at the upcoming Asian Games in Hiroshima.

However, national coach Pieter Noya hinted that the team will be sent to the Games although he had earlier set 40 seconds as the break point for deciding whether they would be sent.

Antonius M. Sulistiono ran the opening leg, followed by Erwin Heru, Ernawan Witarsa and national 100m record holder Mardi Lestari. Although they won the race, the gold medal went to Central Java, which ran 41:97, since the national team was not eligible.

Yesterday's order was different from the one prepared for the Asian Games because Khodik Juntasi was ill, according to coach Julius Toisuta. Were it not for his illness, the race could have served as a try out for the team. Toisuta added that Ernawan was actually not fit either.

For the Asian Games, Noya said that in addition to the known order of Antonius, Khodik, Ernawan and Mardi, also possible is Khodik, Mardi, Ernawan and Erwin. When asked why he opted for the two possibilities, Noya said that based on previous performances, the two are so far the best.

Noya said conditioning will determine whether the national team performs up to expectations. Noya said the baton passes remain the team's Achilles heel, but that "the Asian Games are still four weeks ahead and I think they have enough time to train."

Toisuta told The Jakarta Post he believed the team will be in the hunt for an Asiad medal because at this year's Singapore Open which finished last week, the Antonius-Khodik-Ernawan-Mardi team clocked 39:86 for the silver and broke the national record of 39:93 the team set at last year's Singapore Open in the process.

Only three national records fell during the three-day competition. On Thursday, Alex Resmol of East Java broke the men's 800m mark by clocking 1:50.07, 44 hundredths of a second better than the old mark set by D. Lutrun of Irian Jaya in 1986.

Yesterday, women's triple jumper Ira Soselisa of East Java established a new national record by jumping 11.79m, 35cm longer than the old mark set by her sister Yudith at the Bob Hasan Invitational Meet two months ago. Men's triple jumper Sugeng Jatmiko of East Java improved upon his own record of 15.56m by 12 centimeters.

As was apparent the outset, Australia dominated the meet with 15 golds, 10 silvers and four bronzes. Sri Lanka finished a distant second with five golds, two silvers and two bronzes. East Java saved some local face by taking four golds, five silvers and seven bronzes for third. (arf)

Final medals tally

G S B Australia 15 10 4 Sri Lanka 5 2 2 East Java 4 5 7 Central Java 3 3 7 Singapore 3 1 1 West Java 2 5 3 Jakarta 2 4 2 West Kalimantan 2 1 0 Irian Jaya 1 3 7 South Sulawesi 1 0 3