The basketball festival in Mimika is an effort to use the former Papua PON arena

The Chief Executive of the FIBA ​​Asia Cup Junas Miradiarsyah revealed the reason for choosing Mimika to be one of the cities organizing the Indonesian Basketball Festival (IBF), one of which was the committee's effort to take advantage of the former Papuan PON sports arena.

The Indonesian Basketball Festival was officially launched on Wednesday as a series of championships leading to the 2022 FIBA ​​Asia Cup which will be held on 12-24 July.

The first series will be held at the Mimika Sport Complex Stadium on January 7-11 before continuing to Bali, Surabaya, Yogyakarta and Jakarta.

Junas said the five cities were chosen as the host cities because they have a large enough potential for players.

“Another consideration is Mimika, for example, we know that there was once a PON. We see every event if there is continuity," Junas said at a virtual press conference in Jakarta, Tuesday.

“The basketball branch at PON has been an extraordinary success. The audience is full and the matches are fun too. So when there is an opportunity to continue, it will be very good so that with this basketball festival, there is no need to wait that long," he continued.
 
Meanwhile, PT Freeport Indonesia's External Affairs Director Agung Laksamana explained that his party was proud to be involved in the success of the 2022 FIBA ​​Asia Cup because the event was a positive start to take advantage of the former PON arena so that it would not be neglected.

Agung said that the Mimika Sport Complex Stadium, which was built by PT Freeport Indonesia with a fund of almost Rp. 500 billion, was indeed prepared for various sporting events, both indoors and outdoors.

He also hopes that the presence of the Indonesian Basketball Festival in Mimika is not only an effort to utilize the competition arena, but also an effort to socialize basketball in Papua and expose the young basketball talents of the Cenderawasih Earth.

"There are several things that we want to build, namely to build awareness, promote basketball in Papua, and this festival is a place to attract young Papuan talents so that they can take part in basketball, both nationally and internationally," said Agung.

SOURCE : https://www.antaranews.com/berita/2623637/festival-basket-di-mimika-usaha-pegunakan-arena-bekas-pon-papua