Sukma XXI: Sarawak calls for improved judging standards in Pencak Silat

MIRI (Aug 24) Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development Deputy Minister Datuk Dr Ripin Lamat has expressed hope that the “obvious” technical and judging problems encountered during the 21st Malaysia Games (Sukma) XXI Pencak Silat event would be resolved in future events to uphold the sport’s good reputation.

“I hope that in future events, the quality of the judging will be improved. It was very obvious, not only the management team, but also the public who witnessed the situation.

“This caused discontent among the spectators, the management team, the athletes, and the coaches,” he said in a press conference after the Pencak Silat medal presentation ceremony last night.

On Wednesday, spectators threw a plastic bottle into the arena and a plastic cup into the technical area during the Girls U45 category match between Sarawak and Federal Territories, with only 14 seconds left in the game.

These actions were protests against the perceived irregularities in the scoreboard prompting the athlete’s points.

“We hope this will not happen again in the future. The achievements of our talented athletes in Pencak Silat were negated due to the weakness of the judging system,” he said.

Ripin noted that not only Sarawak’s team but also the public objected to the poor quality of judging.

“In fact, Sarawak had protested during an incident in the Seni Tunggal category where an athlete dropped the knife used. This was one of the mistakes made, and the video literally showed the knife falling on the floor. The knife should not have hit the floor, but this (mistake) was denied by the judging team.

“This is a very disappointing judging quality. We hope Pesaka (National Silat Federation) will look seriously into the weaknesses in the quality of judging,” he said.

Despite the problems faced, Ripin who is also the chef de mission for Sarawak’s Pencak Silat’s team, was grateful that the team still managed to collect five golds and seven bronze medals.

“Congratulations to all the athletes who fought hard for this win, even though we faced a few problems, especially on poor judging quality that affected our opportunities achieve better results.

He also congratulated the coaches and management team for their hard work in managing the Sarawak Pencak Silat team throughout the competition.

Ripin reminded those who did not succeed to try again in future events, such as the Borneo Games and the next Sukma or even the Southeast Asia (SEA) Games.

Following the strong support from members of the public and Silat martial art enthusiasts during the Sukma event, Ripin said he would look into reviewing Pencak Silat development programmes here.

“This shows the interest of the public and the younger generation in Pencak Silat. Maybe we will review our Pencak Silat development programmes with help from our Silat coaches and gurus to further strengthen our Pencak Silat team,” he added.

Also present at the press conference were Sarawak team’s head coach, Fadzil Jamain.