IO, Solo The Surakarta Sebelas Maret University (UNS) contingent successfully won three gold medals in the 2021 International Virtual Pencak Silat Championship which was held May 17-19. The championship commemorated the 45th Anniversary of UNS, and featured competitions in four categories, participated in by nine countries with 29 international teams, involving 118 athletes. Ten teams came from abroad, while 19 others hailed from Indonesia.
In this event, UNS put forth two contingents. Contingent A won three gold medals from the women’s singles (Anisa Nugraha Ningtyas), the women’s team (Avona Rara Safitri, Mutiara Nurul Khotimah, Lintang Rikke Hapsari), and the men’s team (Ardan Syaifudin, Bayu Triono, Zulfikri Maulana Hafidz). Contingent B won one silver from the women’s team category (Riska Indriaswuri, Hasna Salekha, Adelia Rahma Danty) and one bronze from the women’s singles category (Deboretta Indriaulia).
This achievement more than fulfilled the target set by the UNS Pencak Silat coach, Dr. Rony Syaifullah S.Pd., M.Pd. “This exceeds the target we had planned: two gold medals from the international jury with an objective assessment,” said Rony, as quoted by Uns.ac.id, Friday (21/5/2021).
The victories cannot be separated from the hard work of the UNS pencak silat athletes. Furthermore, he stated that the athletes had prepared themselves intensively for two months. “In the last month of Ramadan, we also practiced almost every day. Of the four categories contested, UNS won three categories, with one other gold won by Thailand. We hope that the three gold medals can contribute to the achievement of UNS, especially in fulfilling the UNS Main Performance Indicators,” he said.
The 2021 International Virtual Pencak Silat Championship was held only for competition in single and group categories; this was adapted to pandemic conditions that limit physical interaction, especially for athletes. None of the participants met physically, and judging was based on videos sent in.
Several Indonesian universities participated, including Ahmad Dahlan University, Lampung University, Yogyakarta Muhammadiyah University, Semarang Ivet University, Jakarta State University, Surabaya State University. Arriving from abroad, the championship was attended by participants from Algeria, Brunei Darussalam, Japan, Singapore, India, the Philippines, Thailand and Pakistan. (est)