More import players in 1995 Kobatama
More import players in 1995 Kobatama
JAKARTA (JP): The semi-professional national basketball league
Kobatama plans to draft 22 more foreign players into the league
next season to shape up the balance of power among participating
clubs.
Chief of the league commission of the national basketball
association (Perbasi) Meliono Suwondo said on Saturday that each
of the 11 teams will have two imported players.
"The lower ranked teams will have the privilege to choose
before the stronger ones," Meliono said, adding that such a
ruling is expected to avoid one sided matches.
"The problem is that each team's purchasing power is
different," he said. If the 15 Americans and one Canadian that
are playing in this season extend their deal, there will be a
total of 38 imported players in the 1995 season.
A Hong Kong based company, Spectrum, will again bring in the
overseas players for Perbasi.
Meliono said Perbasi will set the limits for height and skill
of the foreign cagers at about a grade higher than local players.
"We want local talents to learn from the imported and more
experienced players," said Meliono.
He did not directly say that the international players have
prevailed over the competitions in progress but did admit that
his Indonesian players "have difficulty matching their towering
rivals."
Pelita Jaya coach Toto Sudarsono earlier expressed his
disappointment over Perbasi having failed to meet their deadline
in setting acceptable quality standards for foreign players
joining the league.
The government decided to allow imported players to join
basketball and soccer leagues last year.
Foreign cagers, most of them two meters high, led scoring in
almost all 35 matches of the league's first leg that ended on
Saturday. They also dominated the selections of most valuable
players in every game.
"Players brought from other Asian countries are in fact more
feasible for this league," said Meliono. He added that Perbasi
had earlier planned to bring in cagers from China and South Korea
but the sponsoring companies refused.
"We let each club hire any player it wants just for the sake
of sponsorship," said Meliono. The four-leg league, which started
last Wednesday and will finish in December, cost the organizers
Rp 250 million (US$115,300).
On Saturday, Bima Sakti of Malang, East Java joined defending
champion Aspac of Jakarta to seal the first leg unbeaten in their
three matches.
Canadian Scott Peterson led Bima Sakti, which lacked American
Morgan Wheat, to nail a come-from-behind 89-76 win over fellow
East Javanese Petrogres of Gresik. Petrogres is entering the
second leg played in Surabaya at the end of this month with three
straight losses. (amd)