SLEMAN - The third day of the National Championship (Kejurnas) Pencak Silat (martial arts) of the Presidential Cup at Universitas Pembangunan Nasional “Veteran” Yogyakarta (UPNVY) (12/2) took place fiercely yesterday. The athletes from various universities in almost all over Indonesia were very enthusiastic in fighting for the tickets to the finals tomorrow.

The third day was contested in two categories. Namely pencak silat match and pencak silat arts.

The match session took place from morning until night consisting of 52 parties competed. The pencak silat art today consists of 16 performance numbers for the male single category, 15 appearance numbers for the female single category, and nine numbers for the female team category.

"I am very happy to be qualified for the finals and represent Ahmad Dahlan University (UAD) Yogyakarta in the female martial arts competition category, I must train more mentally for the finals", Herdiyana Asmoroningtyas explained, one of the martial arts representatives of class E female fighter from UAD.

She hoped that it will always be the match that students are waiting for in the future. According to her, the national competition which was held was one of the most prestigious events.

The chairperson of UPNVY Pencak Silat National Championship, Yoga Saputra, said that the National Championship this time was running quite smoothly and there might be a slight technical problem about time, namely the change in time from the odd year to even one. "There are several considerations from the committee's readiness, we finally had to postpone the implementation schedule", Yoga said.

Hopefully, it can be better and can embrace more universities in Indonesia in the future.

Agung Nugroho as the technical delegation at the Pencak Silat National Championship UPNVY 2020 said the match was quite tight because the athletes’ abilities had fairly even from each of the universities in Indonesia compared to the past. They were always superior representatives from Java in the past, especially DKI and West Java. "And now the value is quite evenly distributed, hopefully it will increase with good quality", he explained.

Moreover, he explained, pencak silat had reached the Asian championship so that his hopes that the championship between students could produce good atheletes for the achievements of national and international pencak silat.

In total, there were 28 semifinal parties that were held. Eight athletes have certainly stepped into the final round. In the female competition category namely Pesilat Niken Puspa Rini from Jakarta State University (UNJ) B in class F, Kana Tania Wijaya from Sebelas Maret University (UNS) in class E, Amanda Putri Noor Zahra from UNJ A in class F, and Herdiyana Asmoroningtyas from UAD in class E.

As for the male duel category, those who successfully broke through the finals were Dadang Arif Dwi Saputra from UAD in class I, Muhammad Bagas from UNJ A in class H, Faris Arman Sa'd from Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta (UMS) in class I, and Wildan Nur Faiz from Muhammadiyah University Purwokerto (UMP) in class H.

Source: Radar Jawa Post