Foreign players still a must for Kobatama

Foreign players still a must for Kobatama

JAKARTA (JP): Imported cagers remain the Indonesian Basketball League (Kobatama)'s darlings as they did in the league's last two seasons, says a club manager of the league.

Toto Sudarsono, manager and coach of Pelita Jaya club, said on Saturday that, for the time being at least, foreign players were still where the league's charm lies.

"Just look at the league's scores. Eighty percent are made by foreign players," Toto told reporters after signing up a sponsorship agreement between his club and sports drink Nagatan.

"I believe no sponsors would be interested in signing a contract with clubs not employing imported players," said Toto.

He added that local players alone couldn't boost the quality of play and the league's popularity. But quality is improving, thanks to their foreign team-mates.

Kobatama has run for two seasons with imported cagers. This year the league features 10 clubs, each with two import cagers. These ten clubs are: Aspac Jakarta, Bima Sakti Malang, CLS Surabaya, Halim Kediri, Hadtex Bandung, Indonesia Muda Texmaco Jakarta, Pacific Surabaya, Pelita Jaya Nagatan, Satria Muda, and Siliwangi Bandung.

Toto said the foreign players in his club were Bobby Allen and Charles Jones. Bobby, born in Toronto, was a player in Canada's national basketball league. He used to play in the Philippine's basketball league. Charles Jones is a U.S. player, who played for Siliwangi last year.

The league will run its first leg in Surabaya from Apr. 9 to Apr. 14. The second leg will be held in Semarang from May 7 to May 12, the third leg in Jakarta from June 4 to June 9 followed by a show called "stars war," between the league's top players on June 23 in Jakarta.

The fourth leg will run in Bogor from July 9 to July 14 and the final one will be held in Jakarta from Aug. 7 to Aug. 10. (arf)