General chairman of the Indonesian National Sports Committee (KONI), Marciano Norman, has urged the Indonesian Pencak Silat Association (IPSI) to continue developing the traditional martial art so that it can be included in the Olympics.

“Pencak silat is an original Indonesian martial art, thus we have to work together to develop it. I invite IPSI — both at the central, provincial, and district/city levels – to discuss an excellent plan about it. We have to bring pencak silat to the Olympics,” he remarked while opening the pencak silat events at Papua National Sports Week (PON) XX at the Toware Sports Hall, Jayapura district on Wednesday.

Furthermore, he asked that all pencak silat competitions be held properly as per international standards so that the martial art can become globally popular.

The attempt is expected to expedite pencak silat to become an official Olympic sport, he said.

In addition, the KONI chairman said that the committee is concerned about the role of competent trainers to develop the martial art globally.

“One of the keys is to prepare a lot of coaches with international licenses who can also teach in other countries. It aims to meet the minimum requirements of the number of countries which support the sport to be contested at the Olympics,” he added.

“We want to make pencak silat popular like karate and taekwondo, thus it can be competed globally and also become the pride of Indonesia,” he said.

At least 206 pencak silat athletes from 27 provinces are participating at the XX Papua PON at Toware Sports Hall, Jayapura district from October 6 to October 12, 2021.

Source: Antara News