Basketballers to test skill at ABC

Basketballers to test skill at ABC

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian basketball players being groomed for
the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games will face an arduous test at the
8th Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) Champions Cup here from
July 18 to July 25.
Indonesian semi-professional club champion Aspac will compete
against nine top basketball clubs from the Philippines, Japan,
China, Malaysia, Iran, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea and
Uzbejkistan.

Aspac will line up six of its players and another six from
other clubs who are preparing for October's SEA Games here.

The six Aspac players are Rinaldo, Victor Roring, Suko
Daryono, Felix Bendatu, Cokorda Rei and Tri Adnyana Adi Loka.

An organizing committee official, Harsuki, said the annual
inter-club championships allowed competing teams to field two
foreign players.

"Indonesia has not yet found foreign players to back up our
players for the coming event," said Harsuki, who is also an
Indonesian Basketball Association official.

All countries except China have confirmed that they will
include foreign players in their teams.

The club's coach, Tjetjep Firmansyah, said his twelve players
would go all out in front of local spectators at the forthcoming
event.

Tjetjep said Aspac's toughest rivals would be the clubs from
the Philippines and Malaysia.

Aspac was fifth in last year's championships after the
Philippine's Hapee Toothpaste, Japan's Isuzu Lynx, China's Guand
Dong Winnerway and Malaysian club Petronas.

If the Philippines Basketball League Champions Tanduay Gold
wins, it will be the third year running it has won the
competition.

The competition will be aired daily by SCTV from July 18 to
July 25. Hong Kong's TVB will also cover the event. (03)