IBL to hold first rookie contest

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The A Mild Indonesia Basketball League (IBL) will start a competition for rookie players early next year for the first time as part of a campaign to scout for new talent.

IBL business development manager Muhammad Rifky said on Tuesday that registrations for the contest opened on Dec. 20 and would close on Jan. 10.

All those over 18, who were Indonesian citizens, did not belong to a professional club, had clean bills of heath and no criminal records were encouraged to apply, Rifky said.

Six cities -- Jakarta, Bandung, Solo, Surabaya, Medan, and Pontianak -- would host the competition, he said.

Fifty contestants each from Jakarta, West Java, East Java, and North Sumatra, and 30 candidates each from Central Java and Kalimantan will be invited to compete.

"The contest will start from Jan. 13 to 20 to choose 20 finalists," Rifky said.

The selection would focus on height, physical strength and individual skills.

The 20 that passed selection would join a training camp in Jakarta, starting from Feb. 1 to Feb. 13, he said.

During the training camp period, evaluations would be made on the endurance, shooting, defense, and attack strengths of the rookies.

Such an assessment would determine the ranking of the 20 finalists, who would then be offered to the basketball clubs.

Taking America's National Basketball Association (NBA) as a model, the IBL administrator ruled a club with the lowest position in IBL competition 2004 would be given priority to buy a rookie.

IBL director Agus Mauro said that the rookie competition would be good for the regeneration purposes.

"We need this rookie competition to find new talent that will step into the boots of the oldies someday," Agus said.

"It will also help distribute good new players into weak clubs and the IBL competition will become more competitive and attractive."