Megawati opens women's basketball tournament
JAKARTA (JP): Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri opened on Monday the women's basketball tournament recently named in her honor for the first time since the event began in 1996.
Eight basketball clubs from around the country are participating in the tournament, which began on Sunday and will close on Friday. Women's basketball has received little attention in the country despite the national team's achievements at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.
The women's team contributed a silver in the 1991 SEA Games in Manila, and in Jakarta in 1997, compared to the men's team winning bronzes in Singapore in 1993 and in Brunei Darussalam in 1999.
In an extemporaneous speech, Megawati expressed hope the tournament could motivate young girls to take up the sport.
"I see that this country has only a few women's basketball teams. Hopefully, this tournament can encourage young players to compete in basketball tournament," she said before inaugurating the tournament at Senayan basketball hall on Monday.
Chairman of the Indonesian Basketball Association (Perbasi) Sutiyoso said he was happy that Megawati was willing to lend her name to the event.
"We told Ibu Mega when we asked her to inaugurate this tournament that women's basketball received little attention and its achievement is declining," he said.
Sutiyoso, who is the Jakarta governor, said that the tournament would be held annually. He described it as a warm-up for the national women's basketball league (Kobatama) in July.
He said he was considering staging a tournament for high school students, to be called the Governor's Cup. "People are eager to play basketball if there are official tournaments," he said.
In the first game of the event on Monday, defending champion CLS Surabaya outclassed Rajawali Bandung 72-37. It was CLS' second victory after it beat Rajawali Sakti Surabaya 100-49 in the first day on Sunday.
It was Rajawali Bandung's first defeat following an 81-49 win against Mataram Utama Yogyakarta on Sunday.
In the second game, Merah Putih (MP) Medco overcame Aspac 44- 35 in a contest of Jakarta teams.
MP team manager Aoh Rossalam said after the match that his team wanted to cause an upset against CLS Surabaya, champion in four Kobatamas.
"We have trained intensively. We also have eight players who are members of this year's National Games (PON) team. We recruited two former members of the 1996 PON," he said.
His team beat Bhinneka Sritex of Surakarta 65-62 on Sunday. Bhinneka was runner-up in the 1999 women's Kobatama. MP Medco finished sixth last year.(ivy)