Wang Junxia will join Asian meet

JAKARTA (JP): Women's 10,000 meter world record holder Wang Junxia is expected to arrive today, bringing with her a pack of all-conquering Chinese athletes, who are out to stretch their supremacy in the 11th Asian Track and Field Championships.

Wang, former coach Ma Junren's trainee, is among China's 57 athletes participating in the biennial event, which will be held from Sept. 20 to Sept. 24 at the Madya Senayan stadium. China's strong contender, Japan, will also arrive today, along with Kuwait, Oman and Azerbaijan.

Athletes from Iran, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Sri Lanka are scheduled to arrive tomorrow. The remaining participants are due to come in on Monday. A total of 554 athletes from 35 countries will take part in the championships.

China will field a team heavy on new faces during the five-day competitions, without Ma's star runners, including women's world 1,500 meter record holder Qu Yunxia. But Chinese Athletics Association president, Huang Zhi, made a pre-match boast that his squad is set to retain the overall title.

The Chinese reigned during the 1993 meet in Manila, with a haul of 23 gold, 11 silver and four bronze, 13 golds clear of runner-up South Korea.

Without Ma's army family, China had to be content with just a silver in the recent World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden. Wang, who led a breakaway from Ma early this year, skipped the world meet but looked ready to defend her crown here after clocking 31:23.24 in the national championships last week.

Next week's championships will lose some of its regular dazzle due to the absence of several big names. Aside from Qu, the continent's fastest man Talal Mansoor and triple-jump record holder Oleg Sakirkin of Uzbekistan have pulled out of the meet.

President Soeharto is expected to officially open the championships on Wednesday. It will be Indonesia's second time to play host to the championships, after the 1985 meet. (amd)