IBL ponders foreign recruitment next season

Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta

The 2004 season of the fledgling Indonesian Basketball League (IBL) will commence here on Sunday, while the organizers ponder a scheme whereby foreign recruits would be allowed to play in the next championship.

The Sunday's contest will pit defending champion HP Aspac of Jakarta against runner-up Bhinneka Sritex of Surakarta at the Kelapa Gading Sports Mall in North Jakarta.

The week-long contest is the first of five series.

Other ties on Sunday will comprise Mitra Kalila against Indonesia Muda (IM) Panasonic; Citra Satria against Angsapura Sania; Bima Sakti Nikko Steel against Panasia Indosyntex.

The remaining series, which will run through until August, will be held Surakarta, Denpasar, Bandung, Surabaya and Medan.

Ten teams are participating in the league, which was introduced only last year. The other two teams are Satria Muda Britama and CLS Good Day.

Meanwhile, IBL director Agus A. Mauro said the question of foreign players' participation in the league had not been decided.

"We can only allow clubs to have foreign players if all of the teams have at least one," he told The Jakarta Post after a media conference here on Wednesday.

He said only five clubs could afford to recruit foreign players at present.

"Hopefully, in the next season, all the ten clubs would be more prepared to hire foreign players," he said.