Pencak Silat

Pencak Silat

The 2018 Asian Games begin on Saturday in Jakarta. With a busy schedule of 40 events that goes some way to representing the diversity that exists in the world’s biggest continent. Alongside the usual Olympic sports well-known to a global audience. Medals will also be handed out for climbing and skateboarding. Which will be included in the Olympics for the first time in 2020. And other, perhaps less familiar disciplines. Here is a guide to some of them:

 

Pencak silat

One origin story of this ancient Indonesian martial art – making its Asian Games debut in Indonesia – has a woman, perhaps in Sumatra, witnessing a fight between a tiger and a giant hawk and then using the same techniques to fend off a group of drunks.

However it started, it soon spread throughout the country and to other parts of Southeast Asia. And now, Pencak silat – an umbrella term used to describe a variety of related disciplines that sometimes features knives and take in 800 different styles – has begun to be noticed elsewhere. In some parts of Indonesia, it is performed during wedding ceremonies and public holidays and will be familiar to local audiences.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/aug/16/pencak-silat-and-esports-a-guide-to-the-most-fascinating-2018-asian-games-events

 

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