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🇮🇩 Indonesia /Sports

Indonesia’s Basketball Team Targets Strong Asian Games Showing Without Bolden

From Republika · () Indonesian

Translated from Indonesian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • Indonesia has named its 12-player men’s basketball roster for the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya.
  • The team will face hosts Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia in its group and will not have Marques Bolden after his Japanese club denied permission for him to compete.
  • Officials expect a blend of experienced players and younger talent to challenge strong Asian opponents.

Indonesia will enter the 2026 Asian Games without Marques Bolden, but Perbasi remains optimistic that the men’s national basketball team can deliver its best performance in Aichi-Nagoya.

Perbasi chairman Budisatrio Djiwandono expressed that confidence after the federation announced the 12 players selected for the tournament. Indonesia will face a difficult group containing hosts Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia. Budisatrio said the roster combines experienced players with younger talent.

The squad includes Lester Prosper and Anthony Beane, while Derrick Michael received permission from his Japanese club, Saga Ballooners, to join the team. Yudha Saputera will serve as captain. Dame Diagne, a 21-year-old forward born in Senegal, is also included. He obtained Indonesian citizenship before turning 18. Fhirdan Guntara is the only player making his Indonesia debut this year to enter the Asian Games squad.

We see that by bringing together Indonesia’s best players for the Asian Games, we can give our best for Indonesia.

· Budisatrio DjiwandonoThe Perbasi chairman expressed confidence in the national team after the roster announcement.

Bolden, who now plays for Levanga Hokkaido, will miss the tournament because his club did not release him. Perbasi national-team managing director Jeremy Imanuel Santoso said the Asian Games do not appear on the FIBA competition calendar, so clubs are not required to release players. The tournament ends only four days before Japan’s league begins, which also contributed to the decision.

Head coach David Singleton said preparations had gone fairly well. After the team took part in the first round of the 2029 FIBA Asia Cup pre-qualifiers in Seremban, Malaysia, it reviewed its performance and added five players: Lester, Bram, Vincent, Prastawa and Derrick. Budisatrio said the players and coaches must compete as well as possible and aim for the best result.

We are confident. We also entrust the coaches and athletes to give their best. We want them to compete as well as they can. We pray that they can achieve the best result.

· Budisatrio DjiwandonoBudisatrio addressed the team’s prospects in a difficult group.
About this summary

Originally published by Republika in Indonesian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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