Preparation For Only A Month, 3x3 Basketball National Team Coach Challenged To Win Gold At SEA Games Hanoi 2021

Indonesia's 3×3 men's basketball national team coach, Ali Budimansyah. (Doc. IBL Public Relations)

JAKARTA – The coach of the Indonesian men's 3×3 basketball national team, Ali Budimansyah, feels challenged to present a gold medal at the 2021 SEA Games Hanoi on 12-23 May.

"This is a challenge for me. With a month of preparation, I have to be better than yesterday, especially when presenting gold in Hanoi is still open," Budimansyah said in a written statement received.

The opportunity to get a gold medal is quite open. That was after seeing the competition at the 2019 Philippines SEA Games, where Budimansyah's team brought home a silver medal.

Budimansyah said he was optimistic that he could bring home gold by looking at the competitive map in Hanoi. Moreover, the Philippines as one of the strongest opponents did not bring the squad as good as when they hosted again.

"I am challenged because the players' conditions are good. They are still competing in IBL 2022. That means, physically and individual skills are honed. It's just a matter of strengthening the mindset of the game because 5x5 and 3x3 there are differences," he said.

In 2019, the 3x3 basketball national team managed to penetrate the final, but lost to the Philippines, which had players from PBA 3x3.

However, for Vietnam later the Philippines will field different players whose quality is below the last SEA Games.

The 3x3 basketball squad will start training together April 4 to face this biennial event. There are three training venues that are still being discussed, starting at the GBK Arena, Bogor, to Krakatau Steel.

The training camp will be followed by 10 players whose composition is a combination of senior and junior players under 23 years old. This is done as part of regeneration.