IO – Kelly Purwanto is one of Indonesia’s most famous basketball players, a star in the Indonesian Basketball League competition. This stylish point guard is known to love to tattoo his body. He claims to have hundreds of tattoos drawn on his skin.
Another hobby outside the basketball court: this guard of Amartha Hangtuah likes to ride motorbikes.
“Not a big motorbike: I just like a regular one. At the moment my motorbike is a Cleveland Heist 250 cc,” Kelly said. He often tours the islands on his favorite motorbike.
Kelly has enjoyed riding motorbikes since school. “Since high school, I’ve been riding – first I had a Vespa,” he said. Kelly claimed to have changed motorbikes many times.
Another hobby intrigues Kelly. “The last two years I’ve also liked to ride a bicycle,” he admitted. Not a folding bike or a mountain bike: he chose a fixie type bicycle.
“If I’m not tired, I take time to cycle,” he said. But not with his fellow basketball players. “I ride with the fixie bicycle community. There are still many fans of fixie bikes,” he said.
Kelly is a seasoned player on the IBL scene. The man born on 3 August 1983 started his career at the Satria Muda Junior club. In 2000 he entered Satria Muda, playing at IBL but only in four matches and even then, with not too many minutes of play.
The following season he was pulled by the Kalila team, bartered with the needed first draft rookie player at the time. Being a major player, Kelly’s name is increasingly brilliant. He became an icon of Kalila and was repeatedly selected to enter the IBL All-Star Team.
Next, Kelly then moved to Garuda Bandung, then returned to Pelita Jaya, a new name for Kalila. From Pelita he moved to Hangtuah before being recruited by Bogor Siliwangi. Now Kelly is back to strengthen Hangtuah.
The IBL competition is currently paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Competition will immediately proceed to the playoffs, which are expected to be held in September and a grand final round at the beginning of October. (rp)