COVID19 Makes Women's Basketball National Team Difficult To Compete Overseas For SEA Games Preparation

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JAKARTA - The Indonesian women's basketball national team has difficulty holding a test match abroad to prepare for the Hanoi 2022 SEA Games due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The manager of the Indonesian Women's Basketball National Team, Christopher Tanuwidjaja, said that ideally trials abroad should be carried out as much as possible. For that Christopher hopes to be realized even in the midst of a pandemic.

"But coming back again depends on the willingness of other countries to accept us during this pandemic, which until now is still a bit difficult to get the opportunity," Christopher said, in a statement received on Sunday, March 6.

The limitations of overseas trials have forced the coaching team to find a way to maximize the preparation of the Indonesian women's basketball team. One of them is looking for a sparring partner while waiting for the possibility to try out abroad.

Looking for a sparring partner, he imitated the preparation when he looked at the FIBA Asia Cup Women's Division B in 2021. At that time, they were practicing and testing with the men's team at the Cahaya Letasi Sports Center in Surabaya.

The sparring partner is important to see the progress of the team during training. Through sparring partners, the coaching team can find out how far the game is progressing as well as evaluate the weaknesses and hone the team's strengths.

"The solution now is the same as our preparation for the FIBA Asia Cup in Jordan last year, namely a match with several KU-18 Men's teams," explained Christopher.

The Indonesian women's basketball national team has been making preparations since early February at GOR Cahaya Letasi Surabaya. However, they only trained fully at the end of February after the 20 players who had been called up had gathered at the training center.

"We started training in early February. Because there are several cases of COVID-19, full team training can only be carried out at the end of February. Currently we are still in the early stages of training because we can only train as a full team. So it's still in the conditioning stage," said Chrisopher.

The 2022 SEA Games Hanoi Vietnam will take place on May 12-23. The Central Board of the Indonesian Basketball Association (PP PERBASI) has set a target so that Heroine Basket Indonesia can bring home a gold medal from the biennial event.

Actually, the 31st edition of the SEA Games will be held from November 21 to December 2, 2021. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced this event and a number of sports in the world to be rescheduled.