World sprinters to higlight Bob Hasan track and field meet
World sprinters to higlight Bob Hasan track and field meet
JAKARTA (JP): The owners of 14 of the world's swiftest feet
will be the highlight of the second Bob Hasan Track and Field
Invitational Meet on May 4 at the Senayan Madya Stadium.
Four are in the men's division: sprinters Dennis Mitchell and
Vincent Henderson of the United States, Glenroy Gilbert of Canada
and Patrik Strenius of Sweden.
Mitchell ran his fastest 100m time, 9.94 seconds, in 1994.
Henderson's best time is 10.00, Gilbert's 10.10 and Strenius's
10.43.
The other three are in the women's division. They are 1992
Barcelona Olympics 100m silver medalist Juliet Cuthbert of
Jamaica, whose personal best is 10.83, Savatheda Fynes of Bahamas
(best time 11.10) and Ester Jones of the United States (best time
11.11).
The seven sprinters are among the 45 world-class athletes who
had confirmed their participation in the meet by last night.
Sprinting is the theme of the one-day meet, as confirmed
yesterday by Indonesian Track and Field Association chairman
Mohammad (Bob) Hasan, after which the meet was named.
Speaking at a press conference, Hasan reiterated that
sprinting is the mother of all track and field disciplines.
He cited an example that world number one pole vaulter Sergei
Bubka was a fine sprinter before he switched disciplines. The
Ukrainian's best time for the 100m is 10.2sec.
Therefore, Hasan urged schools all over the country to start
focusing on the 100m dash instead of long-distance events. "Once
our would-be athletes are good at short-distance running, we can
hope that they will be as good in other sports," he added.
Hasan said he was hopeful that Indonesia would finally qualify
for an athletics Grand Prix after successfully staging the meet
-- officially called the International Amateur Athletic
Federation (IAAF) permit meet -- three or four times more.
Japan is the only Asian country to stage a Grand Prix, which
will be held in Osaka on May 11 this year.
The IAAF gives a country the right to host a Grand Prix, if it
manages to organize a tournament which attracts at least 6,000
spectators, enjoys extensive media coverage, has participants
from at least 12 countries and prompts no world-class athletes to
lodge complaints.
To draw such huge crowds, Hasan said, the meet will be held in
just two hours (from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.) for free. All junior and
senior high schools throughout Jakarta have been asked to send
their students to spectate. (arf)