Perdana Edition, PON Bela Diri Kudus 2025 Officially Opened

The opening ceremony of the PON Kudus 2025 at the Djarum Arena, Kudus, Central Java, on Saturday, October 11, 2025. (Doc/Humas PON Self-Defense)

JAKARTA The 2025 National Sports Week (PON) is officially open. The opening ceremony took place at the Djarum Arena Kaliputu and Simpang Tujuh Kudus Square, Kudus, Central Java, on Saturday, October 11, 2025.

The opening ceremony was attended by the Chairman of the Central KONI, Lt. Gen. TNI (Ret.) Marciano Norman, the Regent of Kudus, Sam'ani Intakhoris, and Deputy II of the Ministry of Youth and Sports for Sports Industry Development, Raden Isnanta.

This opening features stunning silat performances from Yayan Ruhian and Cecep Arif Rahman, two fighters who are also known to take part in the Hollywood film industry.

The two feature a combination of the beauty of movement, dexterity, and deep philosophy of silat martial arts, which amazes the audience in the arena.

Chairman of the PON Martial Arts Committee in 2025, Ryan Gozali, said that this opening party was designed with various special concepts and performances to mark the first edition of the historic Self-Defense PON.

"The goal is not only to bring entertainment to the audience, but also to be a source of motivation and encouragement for athletes to show their best performance in the 2025 Holy Self-Defense PON arena," Ryan said.

After the opening of the event, it was followed by a defile of representatives of athletes from each sport. They walked from the Djarum Arena to Simpang Tujuh Square and were greeted with kretek dance traditional dance from Kudus Regency which involved hundreds of female dancers.

The series of events continued with the appearance of martial arts actions. Thousands of Kudus residents enthusiastically packed the city center to witness a series of entertainment prepared by the organizers.

Marciano stated that the implementation of the 2025 Kudus Self-Defense PON has a number of strategic goals, one of which is a competition for non-Olympic martial arts sports which will no longer be competed in regular PON starting 2028.

"We express our deepest appreciation to all parties involved for the success of this inaugural Personal Defense PON, from elements of the government to the private sector and sponsors," he said.

A total of about 2,645 athletes from 38 Provincial KONIs were present to participate in the first edition of the important event. They will compete in ten sports (sports) for pure martial arts, namely karate, fighting degrees, ju-jitsu, pencak silat, taekwondo, wrestling, judo, sambo, wushu, and shorinji kempo.

This competition will take place from October 12 to October 26. The center for the implementation of the 2025 Kudus Self-Defense PON will take place at the Djarum Arena Kaliputu, Kudus.

This competition complex is divided into four areas, namely Djarum Arena 1 and Djarum Arena 4 functioned as a warm-up and training ground for athletes as well as Djarum Arena 2 and Djarum Arena 3 as the main locations for the match.