Bring it on! Sarawak silat warriors rise to Sukma challenge

MIRI (Aug 14): Sarawak’s pencak silat squad is ready to “fight” for medals at the 21st Sukma.

This is the war cry from head coach Fadzil Jamain who revealed that his warriors have been preparing since Feb and had also undergone training stints in Sabah, Peninsular Malaysia and Thailand.

“In these final moments we are more focused on mental preparation, we are confident that with almost seven months of intensive training, we will give a strong challenge this time,” he told The Borneo Post.

The 34-strong state squad will vie for 28 gold medals in the various categories of Silat (Creative Solo, Single, Team, Men Doubles, Women Doubles) as well as the Puteri Class Athletics.

“Interestingly, almost all the athletes are new faces aged 17 to 21 years old. There is one fighter (in Form 5) who had been given tuition classes while at the training camp because we don’t want to neglect their education,” he said.

Fadzil is confident that all his athletes are capable of absorbing the mental and physical training to enable them to use all their skills to challenge their counterparts from other states.

“We are ready to face challenges from athletes from other states and we expect the public to come and support our fighters in their pursuit of medals,” he said.

The pencak silat competition of the 21st Sukma will take place at the Miri Indoor Stadium from Aug 18 to 23.

The sport offers 20 gold medals for the duels and eight for the arts category. Based on the forecast projected by the overall Sarawak contingent, the silat fighters are capable of winning seven gold medals.