Palli reaches target but still not sure of place on Olympic team

High jumper clears qualifying height, but not at an OCI recognized event.

By ALLON SINAI
Nikki Palli 224.88 klige (photo credit: Asaf Kliger)
Nikki Palli 224.88 klige
(photo credit: Asaf Kliger)
The Olympic Committee of Israel will determine the fate of high jumper Niki Palli and long distance runner Itai Magidi on Wednesday. Palli cleared 2.27 meters, as the OCI demanded, in an invitational at Haifa on Tuesday, but since the jump wasn't done at an OCI target event, the 21-year-old has still yet to secure his place in Beijing. The OCI is expected on Wednesday to agree with Palli on a target event in the coming weeks at which he'll be given another chance to clear 2.27m and officially clinch an Olympic berth. Runner Itai Magidi set a new Israeli record time of 8:24.14 minutes in the 3000m steeplechase in France over the weekend, a result that is 46 hundredths of a second faster than the OCI's criteria time. Magidi, however, is required to record such a result twice to book his place in Beijing and the OCI will need to decide on Wednesday whether to add the runner to the delegation or to continue to demand that he repeat his performance from the weekend once more in the next couple of weeks.