Four favorites fight to retain top places

JAKARTA (JP): The top four teams going into the eight-day third leg of the 2001 Nuvo Kobatama national basketball league starting here on Thursday will face stiff competition in their drive to stay atop the standings.

Defending champion Aspac Texmaco is still at the top of the standings after winning eight of nine matches in the last two legs. In second place is Bhinneka Sritex of Surakarta, which rejoined the league this season after a one-year relegation, with seven wins and two losses.

Mahaka Satria Muda, the 1999 champion, also has seven wins and two losses but is in third place based on scoring average. While 2000 league runner-up Panasia Indosyntec of Bandung is in fourth place with six wins and three loses.

The chief of the organizing committee for the third leg, Ade Bella Harahap, said the other six clubs in the league still had a chance to move into the top four.

"The matches will certainly be interesting because many teams, including those in the last four in the standings, still have a chance to break into the top four and make their way to the final," said Ade, who is also the Indonesian Basketball Association (Perbasi) deputy in charge of Kobatama.

The four teams at the bottom of the standings are Jakarta- based Indonesia Muda, Bima Sakti Nikko Steel of Malang, East Java, the newly promoted Angsapura Sania of Medan, North Sumatra, and Dwidasa Mitra of Jakarta.

So far, the top clubs have been very unpredictable. Aspac bowed out to Satria Muda in the second leg in Surakarta while the latter lost to Wismilak Cahaya Lestari Surabaya and Bhinneka. Panasia was also beaten by Satria Muda in the first leg in Malang.

Perbasi announced earlier that the league's final would be held from July 7 to July 10 but the association has yet to name the host city. The final will employ a best-of-three-matches system.

The 10 teams in the league are divided into the Kratingdaeng Eastern Division and the ABC Alkaline Western Division. In the east are Panasia, Bima Sakti, Wismilak CLS, Bhinneka and Bali Jeff Citra Satria Pelita Jakarta, while the western division groups defending champion Aspac, Satria Muda, Indonesia Muda, Dwidasa Mitra and Angsapura.

Private television station SCTV will broadcast a pretaped game every Saturday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and every Sunday from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. from May 19 to June 10. Game highlights will be shows during the sports segment of the Liputan 6 Pagi news program every Saturday and Sunday morning.

League sponsor Nuvo soap manufacturer is also offering prizes to lure spectators, including one KIA Visto car. (ivy)