Kobatama final to apply best-of-three system

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Basketball Association (Perbasi) deputy in charge of Kobatama national league Ade Bella Harahap said on Tuesday that this year's Nuvo Kobatama league's final will use the best-of-three-matches system.

"We hope the best-of-three-matches system in the final can lead the Kobatama league toward the home and away matches in the year 2002. At the moment we can't fulfill the target due to some restrictions," he told a media briefing without elaborating.

Ten clubs have confirmed participation in Kobatama's four series. The first of the series will take place in Malang, East Java, from March 23 to March 30 followed by the second in Surakarta, Central Java, from April 21 to April 27.

The third of the series will be played here from May 10 to May 17 and the last will be hosted either by Bandung or Yogyakarta, from June 12 to June 18.

Perbasi has yet to appoint the host for the semifinals (June 30) and final on July 7, July 8 and July 10. Bandung and Jakarta are the strongest candidates to host the events.

Ade said the league would apply some new rules of the international basketball federation (FIBA) including the 4x10 minutes play time, three referees to supervise the match, the 24 minutes given to attack and the 15-minute pause during half-time.

"We will invite three foreign referees to help supervise the match and to minimize protests over the referee's decisions. They will arbitrate the final matches," he said.

The 10 clubs are divided into the Kratingdaeng eastern division and the western division. The Kratingdaeng division comprises Panasia Indosyntec (Bandung), Bima Sakti Nikko Steel (Malang), Wismilak Cahaya Lestari Surabaya (Surabaya), Bhinneka Sritex (Surakarta) and Bali Jeff Citra Satria Pelita (Jakarta). The western division will comprise defending champion Aspac Texmaco, Satria Muda, Indonesia Muda (IM), Dwidasa Mitra Guntur -- all from Jakarta -- and the newly-promoted Angsapura Sonia (Medan, North Sumatra).

Ade also confirmed that Satria Muda would decide if it would take IM's top player Rommy Chandra on Saturday. IM sold Rommy to Satria Muda and Aspac Texmaco but it insisted later that Rommy was still registered as its player.

Ade said Rommy wanted to play for Satria Muda if the club could help him settle his contract with IM. (ivy)