Pencak Silat Open Championship 2024 Followed By 4,000 Participants

Athletes appear at the 2024 International Indonesian Student Pencak Silat Open Championship (doc. KONI).

JAKARTA The International Indonesian Student Pencak Silat Open Championship 2024 is officially open on Monday, July 8, 2024.

A total of four thousand athletes from seven countries are contestants. Those countries are Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Brunei, Singapore, the United States, and Indonesia.

Secretary General of the Indonesian Pencak Silat Association (PB IPSI), Teddy Suratmadji, said that this championship was part of preparations for the Olympics.

"We have to work hard so that pencak silat can be carried out exhibitions at the Olympics later," Teddy said in a statement.

This year's Championships reshuffled two categories. International Indonesia Student Pencak Silat Open Championship 2024 for junior participants which took place on 8-11 July 2024 and International for senior participants which was held on 12-16 July 2024.

Chairman of the Central Indonesian National Sports Committee (KONI), Marciano Norman, hopes that this event will not only measure the athletes' abilities but can also strengthen the ties of brotherhood.

"I also hope that this can produce future athletes and become an event that is being followed by more and more countries every day," he said.

Pencak silat at this time has not become an Olympic sport. The target is that at the 2036 Pencak silat sport, it can be contested.

Pencak silat is one of 14 leading sports as stated in Presidential Regulation (PP) Number 86 of 2021. This sport is projected to excel in the Olympics later.