BEIRUT (Lebanon) - The FIBA Regional Office-Asia further pushed its efforts to improve game officiating following successful referee workshops in Indonesia and Korea.

A pre-season refereeing camp was held in Jakarta last December 13–15 as the Indonesian Basketball Association (PERBASI) prepared for the upcoming Indonesian Basketball League.

Thirty participants attended the three-day camp, much to the delight of PERBASI President Mr. Kho Poo Thai, who's hoping to see more Indonesian referees officiate on the global stage.

"This National Referee Camp is a good opportunity for preparing the referees who will be assigned to officiate the upcoming season," the amiable executive said. "We also hope that from this training there will be more Indonesian referees officiating at the international level."

Nirmala Dewi, PERBASI Secretary General, on the other hand, is hoping to see more of such workshops moving forward to help harness the growth of referees in the country.

"This is very beneficial for the national federation and should be held frequently in Indonesia, considering that we have a lot of referees but very few opportunities to hold clinics," he said.

Meanwhile, the other referee workshop took place in Seoul from December 18 to 20. Thirty-four referees attended the session made possible in cooperation with the Korea Basketball Association (KBA).

Mr. Jongyoon Park, Vice President of the KBA, saw the three-day event as beneficial, especially for the local referees, as it would help broaden their knowledge of game officiating.

"I witnessed that the clinic was a great opportunity for the development of the referees' abilities, not only the FIBA active referees but also the local ones," he said.

KBA Head of Referees, Mr. Jinsoo Kim, echoed as much. "It was very productive and informative. It gave very clear explanations, feedback, and evaluations to each participant, and I am very confident that that will be a great asset to the referees for their officiating," he stated.

The workshops included several subjects from both a theoretical and practical perspective, including the latest updates related to refereeing and basketball rules.