Perbasi upbeat about women's basketball prospects

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian basketball team is optimistic that its women's squad will be able to go one step better than their 2001 performance when they take part in the upcoming Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Vietnam in December.

The team finished in fourth place behind Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines at the 2001 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur.

"The board of the Indonesian Basketball Association (Perbasi) is determined that this team must take a medal, at least a bronze. And I'm optimistic about the prospects given the current level of preparations," team manager Noviantika Nasution said here on Tuesday.

"We started the training regime as early as in February, while the official starting date for training was May 1. Hopefully, the earlier we start the better we'll get," she said.

Under the coaching trio of Rastafari Horongbala, Amran, Hidayat Humaid, the team consists of 15 players, the majority of whom are newcomers.

Two domestic tryouts against men's teams -- a college team and a junior team -- have been held, with another in Bandung to follow.

Two overseas outings -- Singapore and Australia -- in September are planned by the team. In Singapore, the team will take part in an event participated in by other teams from the Southeast Asian region, while the Australian tour will focus on finding a sparring partner.

"As our plan to have an outing to China has fallen through due to SARS, we are very keen to be able to go to these countries. Hopefully, SARS won't interfere with our plans," Noviantika said.

The early start of training and the outings have made Perbasi chairman Sutiyoso optimistic.

"After finishing in fourth place in Kuala Lumpur we deserve to take at least third place in Vietnam given our early preparations and our planned trips," said Sutiyoso, who is also the governor of Jakarta, while watching the team training at the basketball hall in the Bung Karno sports complex.

While the women are already busy with their SEA Games preparations, the men's preparations will not commence until after the Indonesia Basketball League (IBL) completes its inaugural season in August.