SEA Games teams warm up in junior event
SEA Games teams warm up in junior event
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Track and Field Association gave the nod yesterday to 10 runners groomed for the 18th Southeast Asian Games to enter the national junior championships at the end of this month.
The 10 athletes, aged under 20 years old, will only be allowed to compete in one event each at the annual tournament held here just two weeks before the SEA Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
"It is just a low-key competition in which they need to observe their physical and mental preparedness for the Games," the championships' committee chairman, Gurmilang Kartasasmita, said.
Asian Championships double silver medalist in women's 5000- meter and 10,000-meter, Tri Asih Handayani, is among the SEA Games runners who have confirmed their entry at the junior meet.
The association's SEA Games project officer, Pieter Noya, agreed with Gurmilang, saying that the championships will serve as the final checking of his male and female trainees prior to the Games, slated for Dec. 9 to 17.
"Their participation in the junior championships will not adversely affect our program set for them," Noya said. He also guaranteed that his runners would not risk injury during the three-day track and field meet.
The association has picked 44 men's and women's athletes for the Games. Noya said that the rest of the team would continue their training program.
Indonesia is setting its sights on 15 gold medals at the SEA Games track and field competitions.
The junior championships will parade more than 300 athletes from the country's 27 provinces. A talent scouting team formed by the association expects to pick athletes to be groomed for the 6th World Junior Championships in Sydney and the ASEAN school championships here. Both events will be held in August next year.
Golf
Meanwhile, Indonesia's two best men's golfers, Sukamdi and Denny Supriadi, will gear up for their SEA Games campaign in the Hong Kong Open, scheduled for next week.
"The tournament will be very good for the two boys to gain experience and exposure to some world-class professional golfers. Certainly, they can learn a lot from the tournament," Filipino coach Paterno Brasa told visiting chairman of the National Sports Council Wismoyo Arismunandar at Pondok Indah golf course yesterday.
Denny will defend his title in the amateur division. Sukamdi was invited for his victory in the Tunku Abdul Rachman Putra Cup amateur tournament in Kuala Lumpur in September. The 32-year-old champion carded 276 twelve under par to break the old course record of 277 set by Preecha Senaprom of Thailand in the 1991 meet in Thailand.
Sukamdi and Denny spurred the Indonesian SEA Games team of four to finish third behind the Philippines and Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur. The Indonesians finished above Thailand.
Brasa, who has been coaching the national golf team since June, said that the participation of the two ace golfers would not play havoc with their SEA Games training programs.
The SEA Games golf competition offers four gold medals from men's and women's divisions. Two golds are at stake in the team events and the other two in the individual events.
Indonesia is eying two golf gold medals in Chiang Mai. It grabbed two bronzes from its men's golfers in the 17th SEA Games in Singapore two years ago. (arf/amd)