Runner Ruwiyati fit for SEA Games: Doctor

JAKARTA (JP): Ruwiyati, banned from running marathons by the Indonesian Athletics Association, will be fit enough to run at the SEA Games, said Dr. Yuslam Samihardja of the Central Java branch of the Indonesian Sports Council.

"It is illogical that the Indonesian Athletics Association does not allow Ruwiyati to compete in the SEA Games only because a medical test by Dr. Ichramsyah Rachman stated that the marathoner had nothing seriously wrong with her health," Dr. Yuslam said Wednesday in Semarang.

Yuslam said that, based on the medical test, Ruwiyati's osteoporosis condition was improving and that her leg had recovered from injury. "Ruwiyati still needs treatment and the doctor advised her to do some gymnastics."

Dr. Ichramsyah's examination on Feb. 24 discovered that Ruwiyati, a member of the Tiger Lokomotive Salatiga club, had osteoporosis.

Ruwiyati won a gold medal in the marathon at the 1995 SEA Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand. She clocked two hours 34 minutes and 29.12 seconds, breaking the SEA Games record. Singapore's Yvone Danson Tan finished second.

Alwi Mugiyanto, the club's trainer and manager, said recently that the sports council and the athletics association had not said whether Ruwiyati could run at the Games in October.

Games training director Djoko Pramono has said a decision will be made in June after Ruwiyati has another examination.

Ruwiyati told Antara news agency in Salatiga on Wednesday that her health was improving and she was training hard in Noebong, near Salatiga, Central Java, and around nearby Mount Merbabu.

"I do not feel any pain while I am running. I am ready to compete in any race," Ruwiyati said.

The association's ban only stops her entering the SEA Games. Ruwiyati is now concentrating on East Java's Malang International Marathon in April which she hopes to win as she did in 1995. Her illness stopped her competing in the event last year. (lnt)