Host Indonesia is expecting to bag four gold medals in pencak silat, the country’s traditional form of martial arts, at the 18th Asian Games (Asiad) held in Jakarta and Palembang, South Sumatra.

This year marks pencak silat’s debut in the quadrennial event. As host, Indonesia had the privilege of adding several sports to the competition and chose pencak silat as it was considered a gold mine for the country.

Mohammad Taufik, deputy chief of the Indonesia Pencak Silat Association (IPSI), said the target was “realistic” because the sport had grown in the region, giving Indonesia ample competition among Asian fighters.

“It is a realistic target. We will fight against athletes from Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and even Iran. [These countries] actually have great athletes. Thus, the four gold-medal target is actually quite modest,” Taufik said on Sunday.

Despite the tight competition, Taufik said he was proud to see that the sport had become popular.

“It’s a mixed feeling,” he added.

In the Games, which will be held from Aug. 18 to Sept. 2, Indonesian fighters will compete in all 10 of the men’s events and six women’s events.

In the 2017 Kuala Lumpur Southeast (SEA) Games, Indonesia secured two golds, four silvers and nine bronzes.

The gold medals came from Wewey Wita in the pencak silat women’s B class (50-55 kilograms) tanding (match) as well as trio Anggi Faisal Mubarok, Asep, Yuldan Sani and Nunu Nugraha in the men’s team seni (artistry) category.

Indonesia’s fighters are attending the national training camp in Surakarta, Central Java, where seven coaches are preparing 22 athletes.

Besides the Asian Games, Indonesia is also looking forward to exhibiting pencak silat at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

“We are going forward, in-line with Pak [President] Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo directive, to reach the Tokyo Olympics,” said Taufik, adding that IPSI would do its best to reach the goal in exhibiting the sport in Tokyo Olympics, as it was part of a plan to place the sport in the 2024 and 2028 Olympics.

In the upcoming Games, pencak silat will be contested at the Taman Mini Indonesia (TMII) cultural park’s Pencak Silat hall in East Jakarta.

In the tanding category, the scoring system grants one point for a punch and two points for a kick. Meanwhile, each sweep and scissor takedown is worth three points.

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History

The pencak silat martial art, or silat, is a generic term for the indigenous martial arts of the Indonesian/Malay archipelago, which includes Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. Silat has played an important role in the history and culture of the Indonesian and Malay people. Traditionally, silat formed part of the education of all young men, and was an integral part of a boy’s path to manhood.

Silat continues to play a significant role in Indonesian and Malay culture. It is practiced in a variety of traditional and modern forms and is fast gaining popularity around the world under the auspices of the International Pencak Silat Federation (Persilat), the world governing body for silat.

“Pencak” is commonly used by the people in Java, Madura and Bali, whereas the word “silat” is commonly used by people living in other regions of Indonesia and Malaysia.

The words “pencak” and “silat” were combined into a single term for the first time when an organization uniting all perguruan (institutions) of pencak and silat in Indonesia was founded in Surakarta, Central Java, on May 18, 1948.

This organization was named Ikatan Pencak Silat Indonesia (the Indonesian Pencak Silat Association), or IPSI.

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