Pencak Silat Targeted At Four Gold Medals At The 2021 SEA Games Hanoi, Head Of National Training Coach: Quite Realistic

Pencak silat athletes get the target of four gold medals at the 2021 SEA Games. (Doc. NOC Indonesia)

JAKARTA – The All Indonesian Pencak Silat Management (IPSI) is optimistic that they will face the 2021 Hanoi SEA Games. They believe they can exceed the gold medal target set by the government.

The government has targeted four gold medals for the sport of pencak silat at the upcoming SEA Games Hanoi. There are 21 pencak silat athletes who will fight to meet the government's target.

All these athletes will compete in 16 events.

Head Coach of the National Pencak Silat Training Indro Catur said that his team's preparations had been going on since last year. It's just that this year they made another selection so that their preparation was considered very mature.

"So we have implemented the programs that have been made and all 21 athletes who will be dispatched are showing good progress," said Indro in an official statement as quoted from the Indonesian Olympic Committee (NOC) website on Wednesday, April 6.

"Seeing the progress of each athlete, we are optimistic that the medal target given by the government to us can be achieved. And in our opinion, the target given by the government to us is quite realistic," he added.

In addition to increasing the intensity of training, pencak silat also runs various try-in programs. For the SEA Games, this sport conducted a try-in in four major cities, namely Bali, Bandung, Solo, and Yogyakarta.

Meanwhile, Secretary General of IPSI Teddy Suratmadji said the government's target could possibly be exceeded. He reflected on the preparations made by the pencak silat athletes so far.

"Please pray for us to not only achieve this target, but hopefully it will be exceeded," said Teddy.

Pencak silat is one of 32 sports that Indonesia will send to the SEA Games later. In total, the Red and White team will send 476 athletes to participate in the event which will be held from 12 to 23 May.