Lalu Muhammad Zohri (AFP)

The Youth and Sports Ministry is likely to send the country’s prospects, not its stars, to the 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Manila in November.

Athletes who have excelled at an elite level, including ace sprinter Lalu Muhammad Zohri, are not expected to compete in the Games.

“I would surely be delighted if given the opportunity to participate in the SEA Games as I’ve never competed in the event before,” he told journalists in Jakarta on Friday.

“But it’s up to my coach and management of the Indonesia Athletics Federation [PASI]. I surely want to compete [at events] such as the World Championships and Diamond League.”

After surprising the sporting world with his victory in the 100 meters at the 2018 IAAF Under-20 Championship in Finland, he proved his strong showing was no fluke, claiming silver at the 4x100 m men’s relay at last year’s Asian Games in Jakarta. In May, he secured a ticket to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after clocking in at 10.03 seconds in the 100 m of the 2019 Seiko Golden Grand Prix in Osaka, Japan.

A time of 10.05 seconds was required to qualify for the same event at the Tokyo Olympics.

Zohri is currently preparing for the 2019 Doha World Championships in September. The 19-year-old sprinter just recovered from a minor injury he suffered while competing in Osaka. The injury forced him to withdraw from the Asian Grand Prix in Chongqing, China, in early June.

“After running in Osaka, I feel pain in my left knee. But the doctor has said that everything is fine. I have been running again these past two days,” he said.

“Now, I work on strength practice every time I finish training to avoid such injury.”

For the upcoming World Championships, Zohri set himself a target to break his own record by running in under 10 seconds in Doha.

In the meantime, PASI chief Bob Hasan said his team would keep developing prospects to strengthen the entire national squad.

The federation is expected to deploy its youth squad to the ASEAN School Games in Semarang, Central Java, next month. The event gives scouts the opportunity to evaluate potential backups for the senior squad.

PASI is also preparing its athletes for the Summer Universiade in Napoli, Italy, from July 3 to 9. Emilia Nova, who will compete in the 100 m hurdles, and the relay foursome of Bayu Kertanegara, Eko Rimbawan, Joko Adi Kuncoro and Muhammad Abina Bisma will be sent to Napoli.

Bob reiterated the importance of developing a deep talent pool, as his federation wanted to have options in case one of its top talents suffered an injury.

“We want to build as deep a junior squad as possible. We will deploy the youngsters to the SEA Games, so we should no longer rely [solely] on Zohri and Emilia,” he said.

“If we can build a strong development program, there will be a lot of potential talents who could beat Zohri’s records.”

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