Kobatama final to apply best-of-three system

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)