Basketball exhibition to mark anniversarry

Basketball exhibition to mark anniversarry

JAKARTA (JP): The 50th anniversary of Indonesia's
independence, together with the NBA's "All Stars Game", have
inspired the Indonesian Basketball League to pit two Indonesian
teams against one another in an all-star exhibition game at the
Senayan Basketball Hall on Sunday evening.

Organizers of the match have named the two sides Team Red and
Team White and have also asked spectators to wear both colors of
the national flag.

The teams of 10 will be allowed to pick only three foreign
players each for the exhibition match.

"It will be an exciting game, since we are restricting the
participating players to those who have gained commendable
records in the on-going league," the league's administrator Budi
Rusanto said on Monday. "We also took notice of journalists'
views when deciding on the teams," he added.

Team Red will parade Aspac's Antonuis F Rinaldo, Mohammad
Rifky, Felix Bendatu and Bobby Parks; IM Texmaco's Trasel Rone,
Rommy Chandra and Nano Sukarma; Bima Sakti's Charles Jones and
Ronald Median; and I Made Sudiadnyana of Siliwangi.

The opposing squad has named Pelita Jaya's Ocky Tamtelahitu,
Aprijadi and Anthony Jones; Hadtex's Rani Kristiono, Thomas
Kurniady and Ray Kelly; Sujudi of Halim; Ateng Sugijanto and Mike
King of Pacific; and Hardono Prayogo of CLS.

Aspac tops the league after the third leg, followed by Pelita
Jaya. Defending champion Hadtex lies third. The fourth and final
leg will start next week, featuring only eight out of 10 teams.

The organizers will award Rp 5 million (US$2,273) in cash to
the winning team. An Indonesian cager and an imported player who
win the MVP titles will also bag Rp 500,000 each in cash.

A three-point shooting contest and a slam dunk competition
will be highlights of the weekend basketball event at the 5,000-
seat venue. (arf)