RI plays down chances of ABC c'ship

RI plays down chances of ABC c'ship

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia is pessimistic about qualifying for
the Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) championship in Lebanon
in May in light of the tough competition it will face in the
qualifying round in Kuala Lumpur from April 19 to April 23.

Erick Thohir, the team manager of Mahaka Satria Muda, which is
representing Indonesia in the event, said on Wednesday Indonesia
must face off against four other Southeast Asian countries -- the
Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore -- for a berth in
the finals.

One of the two available berths already has been given to
Malaysia, which finished third in the ABC championship last year.

"The competition will be very tough for us. The Philippines is
the strongest team, while Thailand is far better than our team.
Host Malaysia has been grooming a team for the 2001 Southeast
Asian Games for the last two years. It aims to win the gold in
the Games, which will be held in Kuala Lumpur," he said.

He also said Singapore had two good young Chinese players on
its team, which also was preparing for the 2001 Games.

"I think the Chinese players will be their backbone, not only
substitutes," he said after attending a ceremony during which
three private institutions donated funds to the Jakarta chapter
of the Indonesian Basketball Association (Perbasi).

Indonesia won the bronze medal in the basketball competition
at the 1999 Southeast Asian Games in Brunei, defeating Malaysia
in the bronze-medal game. The Philippines took the gold and
Thailand won the silver medal.

Erick said 12 players would take part in the qualifying round
in Kuala Lumpur. They are Mahaka's Amran A. Sinta, Syahrizal
Affandi, Dwi Eriano, Wahyu Widayat Jati, Fictor Roring, M. Bayu
Radityo, Gagan Rachmat, Poncho, Marlon and Agustinus, Rommy
Chandra from Indonesia Muda Texmaco and Nano Sukarma from CSP
Jakarta. All of the players are training under Mahaka coach
Rastafari Madjid.

Meanwhile, the Dharma Bakti Mahaka Foundation and PT Trigaris
Sportindo, the distributor of Adidas sports equipment,
contributed Rp 17.5 million (US$2,330) to fund junior basketball
tournaments. Also, PT Adi Boga Cipta, the owner of Hanamasa
Japanese restaurant, donated Rp 25 million to stage the Hanamasa
interschool basketball tournament next month.

Dharma Bakti Mahaka, the owner of the Mahaka club, also
donated Rp 45 million to the Jakarta chapter of Perbasi to fund
the women's basketball team at the 15th National Games (PON) in
Surabaya from June 19 to June 30.

The chairman of the chapter, Suharto, said Jakarta way eying
at least one gold at PON, either in the men's or women's event.
"With this contribution, we are hoping for two golds."

He also said Erick would be the team manager and Rastafari the
coach for the women's team, while Irawan Haryono of Aspac
basketball club would manage the men's team, which would be
coached by Iman Sulaiman and Abdurrahman Padang of Aspac. (ivy)