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)