All football and basketball competitions will be held without spectators. I am optimistic that organizers would comply with the policy.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Head of the Task Force for COVID-19 Handling Doni Monardo affirmed that all sports competitions scheduled for resumption amidst the COVID-19 pandemic must be held without spectators to prevent surfacing of new coronavirus disease clusters.

"All football and basketball competitions will be held without spectators. I am optimistic that organizers would comply with the policy," Monardo, concurrently head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), stated during a virtual meeting here on Thursday.

The Indonesian Football Association (PSSI), Indonesian Basketball League (IBL), and BNPB have inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on sports competition safe from COVID-19 on Thursday.

The MoU is part of the preparations before Indonesia's professional football competitions Liga 1 and Liga 2, and the IBL competition in October.

Monardo has appealed to organizers to work closely with local residents to ensure that no spectators are present at the stadium during competitions.

Meanwhile, PSSI Chairman Mochammad Iriawan made assurance of the association applying stringent health protocols during the competition.

The decision to resume Liga 1 and Liga 2 is deemed important as part of the country's preparations to host the 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

"Almost all ASEAN countries have organized the football league. Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam have completed the league. The Philippines has planned to organize the competition," Iriawan stated.

"We welcome this, as we will host the U-20 World Cup in May-June 2021. This is our rationale for resuming the Liga 1 and Liga 2 competitions," he stated.

Chairman of the Indonesian Basketball Association (PERBASI) Danny Kosasih echoed the same commitment to implement strict health protocols during the basketball competition.

"The decision to resume the league will enhance Indonesia's basketball performance, as Jakarta will host the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup and the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup," Kosasih stated.

PSSI has planned to resume the Liga 1 competition on October 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021, in Java Island, after months of delay owing to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Liga 1 was halted in mid-March after the country reported its first COVID-19 cases and after only the third week into the current season.

The IBL will resume its competition on October 13-27 at the Mahaka Square Arena in Jakarta by emulating the 2020 NBA Bubble.

The 2020 NBA Bubble is the isolation zone at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando, that was created by the US National Basketball Association (NBA) to safeguard its players from the COVID-19 pandemic during the final eight games of the 2019–20 regular season and all through the 2020 NBA playoffs. Related news: New COVID-19 clusters arising in refugee shelters: Epidemiologist
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Translator: Shofi A, Sri Haryati
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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