President Jokowi Cancels Attendance, FIBA World Cup 2023 Officially Opens Enough Lively

The opening ceremony of the FIBA World Cup 2023. (Photo: Ulfa Gusti Utami/VOI)

JAKARTA - FIBA World Cup 2023 officially starts from August 25 - September 10. The opening ceremony took place at the Indonesia Arena, Senayan on Friday, August 25.

The opening ceremony was originally scheduled to be attended by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) in person. However, because there was another agenda, President Jokowi failed to attend.

This was conveyed by the Chairperson of the FIBA World Cup 2023 LOC, Budisatrio Djiwandono the day before the agenda was held.

"It seems that (President Jokowi) was not present because based on the information we received, the president was having a new activity from Africa. Now he has returned (to Indonesia) but is currently in North Sumatra," he said.

Although he was not present in person, Jokowi gave a speech and opened this prestigious world-class basketball agenda through a short video. He said this moment could be a spark of enthusiasm for the Indonesian basketball world.

"This is a good opportunity for the people and the world of basketball in the country, to be able to watch basketball players and world-class matches firsthand. This will spur the quality of Indonesian basketball," Jokowi said in the video.

"By saying bismillahirrohmanirrohim, I will open the FIBA World Cup 2023 in Indonesia today," Jokowi continued.

Although without President Jokowi's presence in person, the opening ceremony of the FIBA World Cup 2023 went smoothly and exciting with the presence of Cinta Laura and Raffi Ahmad as the local ambassador for the 2023 FIBA World Cup.

The opening ceremony of the FIBA World Cup 2023 begins with the performance of regional dancers who perform several dances and songs of the archipelago, such as ondel-ondel accompanied by GAC music group.

Not only that, this event was also enlivened by Agnez Mo's appearance. The singer who is now going international successfully rocked the Indonesia Arena with a capacity of 16 thousand spectators.

Single titled Chocolate Bottle opened Agnez Mo's appearance in front of the audience that filled the stands. He also brought another hit, Get Loose.

Before the opening ceremony was held, the Indonesia Arena was already roaring with the support of the audience present. Because before the opening ceremony, there was a Group H opening match between Latvia vs Lebanon.

Attended by 5,834 spectators, Latvia managed to lower Lebanon with a score of 109-70 in the preliminary round of Group H FIBA World Cup 2023. After the opening ceremony, the excitement continued again with the match between Canada and France.

In the FIBA World Cup 2023, Indonesia is not the only host. Because the Philippines and Japan also participated in holding this agenda as the host of other Groups.