"I praise the COVID-19 task force for its swift response and proper implementation of the Health Ministry's health protocols during the games," Tambunan stated at the Mimika Sports Complex on Monday.
Tambunan informed that the task force had swiftly isolated one of the team members after her COVID-19 PCR test came positive, and they also conducted quick contact tracing on other team members.
The task force only allowed the team to resume its participation in the match after all members' COVID-19 test had yielded negative results.
The infected athlete was moved to the Mimika Regional Hospital, and her condition is showing improvement. The task force's quick action has saved her life, the coach stated.
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Tambunan recalled his team was demotivated upon learning that one of their team members was infected with COVID-19 after a test on Thursday (Sept 30). As her roommates were also barred from the match, the team's performance in the game against the South Sumatra team was significantly affected, and the team was defeated by 10 points.
"Despite the defeat against the South Sumatra team, the team's confidence was restored in their next match against Papua during which they won," Tambunan stated.
One of the Jakarta basketball team's athletes, Sophia Rebecca, admitted to the team getting demotivated by the surfacing of the COVID-19 case, through confidence was quickly restored while playing against the Papua team in the next match.
"The match against Papua is our new beginning, as our confidence returned following our earlier defeat. We hope to be able to perform our best in the next matches," Rebecca stated.
The Jakarta women's basketball team successfully secured a spot in the PON XX women's basketball semifinal from the Pool Y after defeating the Papua team by 85-30 points on Monday.
In the women's basketball match, the four teams that had secured a place in the semifinals are the South Sulawesi and Jakarta teams from Pool Y, and East Java and Bali teams from Pool X.
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Translator: Michael S, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Suharto
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