PSF Report on the European Pencak Silat Championships 2001

European Championships
Zwolle, Holland
25-27 May 2001

The European Championships were organised in cooperation with the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in the Netherlands and the International Pencak Silat Federation (PERSILAT) in Jakarta. They were hosted by the National Federation for Pencak Silat of the Netherlands (NPSB).

The guests of honour were H.E. Bapak Abdul Irsan SH, Ambassador of the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia to the Netherlands, Bapak Eddie Nalapraya, President of PERSILAT (Persekutuan Pencak Silat Antarabangsa) and Bapak Oyong Karmayuda, the Secretary General of PERSILAT. Also attending as guests of honour were Bapak Rustadi Effendi, the Secretary General of IPSI (Ikatan Pencak Silat Indonesia), Bapak Rachman Gobel, the Treasurer of IPSI, and Bapak Reiner Daulay, the Head of Public Relations for IPSI.

Competitors from 10 European countries took part in the championships, and the Pencak Silat Federations of Singapore (PERSISI) and Morocco also sent teams following a special invitation from the NPSB. To accommodate the teams from the non-European countries an Open Invitation Championship was organised to run alongside the European Championships. This meant that many competitors had to compete in two or more fights per day.

The competition started on Saturday, 26 May 2001. Arif Kokkoz of the British team put up a good fight but was defeated by his opponent, Erdogan Metin of Turkey, who later went on to win the Gold medal in his class (85-90kg).

Later that day Arif also performed in the men's Jurus Tunggal competition and gave a technically competent performance. Despite this, however, he did not achieve a place amongst the medal winners.

Tony Shergill's fight in the Open weight category was against Juan Jose Landajo of Spain. Despite a confident first round, Tony lost to his opponent, but won the Bronze medal in the category.

Medals presentation -Tony Shergill (right) from the UK team took the Bronze in the Open weight category

The full results of the European Championship can be found here.

During the opening ceremony of the European Championships, PERSILAT presented awards of appreciation to those it considered had shown their dedication and great efforts to promote and develop Pencak Silat in their respective countries.

The following members of the Pencak Silat Federation of the UK had been nominated by PERSILAT to receive awards of appreciation:

- Bapak Aidinal Alrashid, President of the PSF UK
- Bapak Otto Soeharjono, Vice President of the PSF UK
- Ms. Susan Gault, Executive Committee Member

Medals of appreciation and certificates from PERSILAT were presented by the President of PERSILAT, Bapak Eddie Nalapraya. Also, a letter of appreciation from the Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Indonesia, Bapak I Gede Ardika, was presented by Ambassador Irsan.

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