Defending champion CLS too powerful for Aspac

Defending champion CLS too powerful for Aspac

JAKARTA (JP): Defending champion Cahaya Lestari Surabaya (CLS)
proved its quality by cruising into the final of the Megawati
Soekarnoputri Cup women's basketball tournament at Senayan
basketball stadium here.

CLS, winner of pool A, outclassed pool B runner-up Aspac of
Jakarta 99-51 on Wednesday. CLS, the champion of the women's
basketball league since 1996, is expected to meet Merah Putih
(MP) Medco of Jakarta in Friday's final, which will be broadcast
live by state-owned TVRI.

CLS collected six points in its pool by winning all three of
its games. It defeated Utama of Yogyakarta 71-43 in their game
late on Tuesday.

MP was scheduled to face Rajawali of Bandung. If Rajawali, the
runner-up in pool A, lose to MP, it will face Aspac on Friday for
third place.

MP tops pool B with the six points it earned by winning all
three of its games. On Tuesday night, MP defeated Sahabat of
Surabaya 62-53.

Earlier on Wednesday, Bhinneka Sritex Solo overcame Rajawali
Sakti of Surabaya 73-46. Bhinneka will face Sahabat in a match on
Thursday to decide fifth and sixth place in the tournament.

Sahabat overcame Utama 65-62 in another match on Wednesday.
Utama will next meet Rajawali Sakti to determine the bottom two
places in the tournament.

Despite the fact that CLS showed it was the team to beat in
the tournament, coach Wellyanto Pribadi remained hesitant to
guarantee his team would win the Cup.

"We want to play our best. If we can do so, we will win the
tournament," he said after the game.

He said MP had a similar style of play as his team. "MP's
players are more powerful and more persistent than our players.
But each player has their own specialty, and I think we can tame
our opponents," he said.

He also said CLS had eight players who were being groomed to
represent East Java at the 15th National Games (PON), which will
be held from June 19 to June 30. He also said one player from his
team would represent East Kalimantan at PON.

Wellyanto said the results of the tournament did not guarantee
East Java would win gold at PON.

"Jakarta has good players from MP and Aspac," he said.(ivy)