JAKARTA, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia will look to grant citizenship of the country to overseas basketball players and recruit a foreign coach in order to set up a strong national team to compete in the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup, the Indonesian Basketball Association said.
During the tournament, the nascent national team is expected to demonstrate its readiness to play in the 2023 FIBA World Cup, said Erick Thohir, chairman of the advisory council of the association.
Along with Japan and the Philippines, Indonesia will host the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
"A requirement from FIBA for a team to play in the 2023 World Cup is that it must perform competitively during the FIBA Asia 2021 tournament," Thohir said.
To achieve this, the association, known as PERBASI, plans to appoint a foreign coach to lead the team, and will look to naturalize foreign players to step up efforts to build a team with strong capabilities and skills, he said.
Thohir added that the players to be naturalized will consist of one senior player and two young players.
The as yet unappointed foreign coach will determine and select the players to be naturalized, said Danny Kosasih, chairman of PERBASI.
