RI may win bronze in SEA Games basketball

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's men's national team manager Erick Thohir expressed optimism about bringing home the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games bronze medal, considering the 16 players named to the team on Monday and the coach's training program.

"The training program assumes that we have a 90 percent chance for the bronze and a 50 percent chance for silver. But don't talk about winning gold, the chances may be zero percent," he said with a laugh.

Coach Tjetjep Firmansyah will be assisted by Muhammad Rifky as technical assistant and Octavianus Matakupan as physical assistant.

Besides the Philippines as the regional powerhouse, Erick named Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand as other tough rivals.

"Singapore has just recruited young Chinese players who have been naturalized and the Malaysian team has picked Australia as its practice partner. Thailand have made up a good team and it has never competed in a Southeast Asian-level tournament, but it has gone to the Asian-level competition."

"I really hope Indonesia can reach the final and can win a gold. But we are also dealing with a short training period," he said.

As team manager, Erick is ready to finance the team. "A team manager doesn't only manage the team but also takes care of the budget. I think it's a normal situation in Indonesia."

However, he did not know how much he will have to spend on the national team.

The training will last from Feb. 1 to March 7 in Jakarta. From March 9 to March 16, the team will compete in the Southeast Asian Basketball Association (SEABA) internations tournament in the Philippines.

"If we can become group champion, we can qualify for the final round of the Asian Basketball Championships in Thailand from July 9 to July 15. But if we fail, we will still have the chance to test our skills against overseas teams in the Anniversary Cup," he said.

Five teams from Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul, Rotterdam and Paris, which are all sister cities of Jakarta, will compete in the Cup in July.

Meanwhile, giant textile firm Texmaco Group has ended its sponsorship contract with Indonesia Muda club and signed a new deal with Aspac. Under the new deal, Aspac will bear the name Aspac Texmaco.

Vice President of Marketing and Planning Leonard Brownfield, who formerly managed the Indonesia Muda Texmaco team, refused to disclose the value of the deal.

Brownfield argued that Texmaco and the Indonesia Muda club had differences in perception as regards the management of an amateur team that could compete at the professional level. "We were probably not going to accomplish our goal together. So, last week Texmaco and Indonesia Muda agreed to go their separate ways."

The fate of Indonesia Muda (IM) players was not clear now that the club, which finished fourth in the 2000 league, no longer has a sponsor. Three key IM players -- Rommy Chandra, Charles Bronson and Agus Sumantri -- have moved to the new Aspac Texmaco.

But, IM head coach, Rifky, said 60 percent of the players had been contacted by other clubs. (ivy)