Indonesia - High hopes for RI squad despite little training
The Indonesian junior women's basketball team only trained for two weeks in the run-up to the FIBA Asia Under-18s Championship in Medan, North Sumatra, which starts Sunday. Nevertheless, the Indonesian Basketball Association (Perbasi) hopes the team will able to perform their best. "Our women's national (basketball) team are falling short of experience," Perbasi chairwoman Noviantika Nasution told reporters at the association's office Friday.
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The Indonesian junior women's basketball team only trained for two weeks in the run-up to the FIBA Asia Under-18s Championship in Medan, North Sumatra, which starts Sunday.
Nevertheless, the Indonesian Basketball Association (Perbasi) hopes the team will able to perform their best.
"Our women's national (basketball) team are falling short of experience," Perbasi chairwoman Noviantika Nasution told reporters at the association's office Friday.
"We understand they may face tough times playing international games for the first time. But we hope they can quickly build up their teamwork and excel at the tournament."
The week-long championship will be held Nov. 2-9 at Angkasa Polonia sports hall in Medan, with twelve Asian countries participating.
Despite regular national competitions, Indonesia has not fielded a women's basketball at an international competition since 2005.
The event was not featured at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Manila, the Philippines, in 2005. And the Indonesian squad failed to compete at the SEA Games in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, last year because the Indonesian Sports Council imposed stricter performance standards to screen the contingent.
"I have received the latest report from the squad's head coach. The players have good skills and the ability to work as a team," Noviantika said, adding that most players represented their regions and clubs at the National Games in East Kalimantan in August and the National Championships.
"Our contenders are more experienced and better prepared, but we hope our team can steal points in early matches," she said.
Indonesia is pitted in the tournament's second division with Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Kazakhstan.
"Our best hopes are that we settle within the top two places on the division table, thereby earning a slot for a playoff match to get promoted to first division," she added.
The first division has Asian basketball heavyweights: China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia and India. The top three teams in the first division will secure tickets to represent Asia at the World Championships in Bangkok, Thailand, next year.
Perbasi said the women's team would be groomed so they could catch up with the success of the men's team and reach the final round of the 2011 SEA Games in Jakarta. The men's team won silver at the Thailand SEA Games last year.
Next year, the same women's team are expected to play at an Southeast Asian Basketball Association (SEABA) event and Jakarta's annual Sister City Tournament before competing at the
2009 SEA Games in Vientienne, Laos.
As part of the long-term target for the women's national team, Perbasi signed a two-year sponsorship deal Friday with PT Mitra Adiperkasa, the supplier of international brand Reebok.
"This deal is not only limited to the sport supplies during international tournaments, but also during training periods," the company's Sports Marketing Manager, Sri Ratna Puspitasari, said.