T

housands of pesantren (Islamic boarding school) students from 33 provinces are competing in the sixth National Sports and Arts Games (Pospenas) in Gorontalo which kicked off on June 24.

The sixth Pospenas, held at the Merdeka Stadium in Gorontalo City, was officially opened by Deputy Religious Affairs Minister Nasaruddin Umar.

The sixth Pospenas, which runs until June 30, will have over 3,000 participants, competing in 10 events, including track and field, basketball, table tennis, badminton and futsal.

Soccer has been omitted from this year'€™s Pospenas and will be organized in a separate competition called the Santri League.

The arts events are divided into 11 contests, including calligraphy, dance, kasidah (a religious song sung to the rhythm of traditional music), poetry, painting and stand-up comedy.