Uncertainty over Asian meet

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JUNE 29. A great deal of uncertainty has surfaced over the venue and dates for the 13th Asian athletic championships. Originally scheduled to be held at Jakarta from August 3 to 6, the meet may have to be shifted to another venue or postponed in view of the prevailing political situation in Indonesia.

The Asian Amateur Athletic Association (AAAA) has convened an emergency Executive Council meeting at Pattaya, Thailand, on July 1 to consider the situation, following a communication from the Indonesian Athletic Federation that there could be a problem in conducting the meet. In a circular to member federations, the AAAA Secretary-Treasurer, Mr. Maurice Nicholas, has stated: ``...the organising committee has just informed me that owing to unforeseen circumstances beyond their control, the aforesaid Congress and athletic championships will have to be postponed to a later date.''

Mr. Nicholas has informed that the Indonesian police entertained apprehensions of both the AAAA events (Congress and championships), especially the latter, attracting ``undesirable elements posing as spectators with intent to disturb'' the preparation and holding of the Indonesian General Assembly which was expected to be around the same period.

``Our President, Mr. Mohamad (Bob) Hasan, has since conferred with me and assured me that there is no question that the organising committee has the financial capability and overall capacity to hold both the events at a later date, being early November, 2000,'' Mr. Nicholas has stated.

Though Mr. Nicholas's letter mentions only about discussing the requested postponement and the new dates at the emergency meeting, several member countries are reported to be pressing for an alternative venue taking over without any change in the dates. Kuala Lumpur, one of the alternative venues approved by the AAAA at Fukuoka, Japan, in 1998, might have to be persuaded to step in at this late stage or else the meet will have to be shifted elsewhere or postponed.

Kuala Lumpur and Colombo were listed as stand-by venues two years ago, when the matter was discussed at Fukuoka. There was political uncertainty and disturbances at that time in Indonesia and Mr. Bob Hasan, was reported to be missing. If anything, the situation has only worsened for the Indonesian federation and the AAAA, with Mr. Hasan reportedly arrested and facing corruption charges.

The Secretary of the Amateur Athletic Federation of India (AAFI), Mr. Lalit Bhanot, said on Thursday that a number of AAAA members had indicated that the meet should be held as per the original schedule, no matter that a change in venue might be forced on the AAAA. The members were concerned about the build-up of the Asian athletes towards the Sydney Olympics, in which the continental meet was listed as an important competitive phase. There is a feeling within the AAFI circles that with the AAFI President, Mr. Suresh Kalmadi, joining the election battle, for the AAAA's president's post - and reportedly attracting good support - the Indonesian federation was trying to buy time by forcing a postponement of not only the Asian meet but also the AAAA Congress scheduled to be held at Jakarta on August 2. Apart from Mr. Hasan and Mr. Kalmadi, the Senior Vice President of the AAAA, Sheikh Khalid Bin-Thani Al-Thani of Qatar, is also in the running for the AAAA president's post.

It is to be seen whether Malaysia will take up the responsibility of hosting the meet and the Congress at Kuala Lumpur at such short notice - just one month. Indications are that Sri Lanka would not be interested in stepping in should Malaysia express its inability. Much will depend on how the Council views the postponement request in the first place.

Domestic itinerary also uncertain

Uncertainty, in the meantime, has spread to the domestic itinerary also. The circuit meet at Madurai is being shifted to Bangalore, though the first meet in the second competitive phase, at Nagercoil on July 1, will be allowed to go on as scheduled. The Bangalore meet will come off on July 5.

Mr. Bhanot said that at a meeting he had convened recently, of coaches and officials, it was felt that back-to-back meets on mud or cinder tracks would not be ideal at this stage and hence the change of Madurai as a venue. It would have been all right had the third meet (inter-state at Chennai on synthetic track) been certain to be held as per the schedule (July 14 to 16), but now with the Asian meet scheduling in some doubt, the domestic calendar had to be disturbed, he explained.

Even at the beginning of the season, some athletes and coaches had wondered why the meets, in an Olympic year, were being allotted to centres not having synthetic tracks. They were apprehensive of reaching for the qualifying marks on mud tracks, fearing injuries.

In case the Asian meet is not rescheduled, then the inter-state at Chennai would go on as scheduled. If put off to November, it would mean a `triple periodisation' for the Indian athletes. ``No one wants the season to stretch up to November,'' Mr. Bhanot said.

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Section  : Sport
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