The goal of IBF is not only to find young talents but also to encourage and promote basketball throughout the regions, as Indonesia will hold the FIBA Asia Cup 2022 soon, FIBA Asia Cup acting chairman Junas Miradiarsyah said here on Tuesday.
"The IBF is a series (of matches that will serve as preparation) towards the FIBA Asia Cup. Hopefully, basketball can be promoted through this event. Although the FIBA Asia Cup takes place in Jakarta, the echo of basketball is all over Indonesia," Miradiarsyah remarked.
"We also look forward to fostering the potential of future young basketball players," he added.
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The Indonesian Basketball Festival, which will feature athletes in the 19–22 age group, will be held in five cities. The first series will be held in Mimika, Papua, from January 7–11, and then in Bali, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, and Jakarta, the official said.
The five cities were selected based on several considerations, one of which was the number of potential players, Miradiarsyah informed.
"There are so many cities that have the potential, but because of some factors like time and efficiency, we selected (the five cities) based on their potential players," he explained.
"Mimika, Bali, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, and Jakarta are the cities that contribute a lot of players. This is not for the national team, but if we look at the league itself, there are many players who have originated from these cities," he said.
Given the increasing number of Omicron cases, he affirmed that his team is cooperating with the local government on the supervision of COVID-19.
"So far, everything is still on track. But if something happens, we have prepared anticipation, meaning that the implementation will continue, but the mechanism will be adjusted," he said.
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Translator: Shofi A, Kenzu T
Editor: Suharto
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