Net Of Young Talents Ahead Of The 2022 FIBA Asia Cup, Organizer Launches Indonesian Basketball Festival

FIBA Asia Cup Chief Executive Junas Miradiarsyah (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Basketball Festival (IBF), which is part of a series of championships leading to the FIBA Asia Cup which will be held on July 12-24, was officially launched, Tuesday.

The Chief Executive of the FIBA Asia Cup, Junas Miradiarsyah, said that the purpose of holding the IBF was not only as a place to find young talents in the country, but also to invigorate and promote basketball throughout the region, especially since Indonesia will soon hold the 2022 FIBA Asia Cup.

“The Indonesian Basketball Festival is a series towards the FIBA Asia Cup… hopefully basketball can be promoted through this event. Even though the FIBA Asia Cup only takes place in Jakarta, this basketball echo is all over Indonesia", Junas said as quoted by Antara.

"We also hope to grow the interest and potential of young basketball players in the future", he continued.

The Indonesian Basketball Festival, which is a basketball championship for 19-22-year-olds, will be held in five cities where the first series will be held in Mimika on January 7-11, and will then move to Bali, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, and Jakarta.

Junas said the five cities were chosen because of several considerations, one of which was the potential of players in the host cities.

"There are so many potential cities, but due to time considerations and the need to think effectively and efficiently, we determine from the side of the potential players".

"We know that Mimika, Bali, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Jakarta are arguably cities with quite large contributors of players, indeed not for the national team, but if we look at the league itself, there are a lot of players from these cities", he explained.

Regarding the situation where the number of Omicron cases continues to grow, Junas stated that his party has collaborated with the local government as the party responsible for monitoring COVID-19.

“Until now, 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 concluded.