Basketball Athlete Development, Perbasi Ready To Prioritize Papua

JAKARTA - The Central Board of the Indonesian Basketball Association (PP Perbasi) prioritizes the development of basketball athletes from provinces in Papua to produce leading athletes who can strengthen Indonesian basketball on the international stage.

"We have talked about having to allocate a lot of resources to Papua, we see the potential of Papuan athletes for basketball is extraordinary," said PP Perbasi Chairman Budisatrio Djiwandono at the "Pelatikan and Perbasi National Working Meeting" event in Jakarta, Saturday.

Budisatrio explained that the coaching of athletes in the Papua region was carried out through regional level management coordinated by the Deputy Chairperson of the Papua Zone, Maluku, Kelvin Winata.

PP Perbasi, he said, really hopes that the Papua zone can give birth to many generations of basketball athletes who are Indonesia's seeds.

"It's not easy, it's not easy, but I'm sure with the support of our friends we can (realize it)," he said.

Furthermore, Budisatrio said, the new Perbasi management he leads is filled with the nation's best young men and women who love basketball very much, so he is optimistic that various strategic programs including athlete coaching can be realized.

He emphasized that his party will work with the principle of teamwork to advance basketball in Indonesia.

"There is no superman, there is no extraordinary human being in basketball, there is a super team. We can be successful, big as a sports organization if we can put forward a team work," said Budisatrio.

Present at the event were Minister of Youth and Sports Dito Ariotedjo, Minister of Law Supratman Andi Agtas, Chairman of the Indonesian Olympic Committee (KOI) Raja Sapta Oktohari and Chairman of the Indonesian National Sports Committee (KONI) Marciano Norman who inaugurated the new administrators of PP Perbasi.