European Pencak Silat Championships
Hamburg, Germany
28-30 November 2003

The 2003 European Pencak Silat Championships were organised and hosted by the Pencak Silat Union Deutschland (PSUD) with the support of the General Consulate of the Republic of Indonesia in Hamburg and the ‘Hamburger Turnerverband von 1862’.

The competition categories consisted of Tanding (Silat Olahraga), Jurus Tunggal (standardised solo jurus), Ganda (freestyle double mock fighting ) and Jurus Regu (standardised team jurus for 3).

The Championships were held under the supervision of the European Pencak Silat Federation (EPSF) and were open to European member countries only.  A total of 65 competitors from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland and the UK took part.

Presentation of Teams

The guests of honour attending the opening ceremony included: His Excellency Bapak Ida Bagus Putu Djendra, Consul General of the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Hamburg and his wife, Bapak Eddie Nalapraya, the President of PERSILAT, and Mr Rudolf Lange (Senator for Education and Culture, Hansestadt Hamburg).  

The cultural show included Silat demonstrations by German and Dutch pesilat as well as performances by Indonesian dancers and Javanese Gamelan music.

Competitions

The UK had entered four fighters to compete in the Tanding competition nd following are some pictures of their fights.

Irfan Alrashid (UK)  vs Christian Paci (A)

Sean Kardar (UK) vs Benjamin Tauckert (D)

Adrien Karder (UK) vs Sylvester Pantouw (NL)

Jason Davis (UK) vs Kristian Paci (A)

Sean Kardar (UK) vs Orlo Ruys (NL)

The Seni competitions started with the male category of Jurus Tunggal.  There were four countries competing, and Irfan Alrashid from the UK was the first contender.  Although he had injured his foot during the Tanding competition, Irfan gave a near perfect performance.  He executed the 100 obligatory moves with expression and feeling, and completed the jurus in 3 minutes 1 second, that won him the silver medal.

Irfan Alrashid – Runner up - European Champion in Jurus Tunggal

The final score for the male category in Jurus Tunggal was as follows:

The United Kingdom, The Netherlands and Germany entered competitors for the female category of Jurus Tunggal.  Hannah Alrashid from the UK had drawn the last performance, and she executed her Jurus Tunggal with precision, expression and perfect timing, finishing the Jurus Tunggal in 3 minutes exactly.  Her excellent performance won her the Gold medal, and the title of European Champion for Jurus Tunggal.

Hannah Alrashid – European Champion in Jurus Tunggal

The final scores in the female category of Jurus Tunggal were:

The full results of the World Pencak Silat Championships can be found here.

The overall standard of competition at the Championships was fair, although there were some questionable decisions and omissions made by Wasit Juri and Judges.  There was however a real spirit of friendship and brotherhood amongst the pesilat from all the different countries.

The British team of 5 pesilat brought home a total of 2 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze medal, making this European Championships the greatest success in terms of medals won to date.  The total of medals received gave the UK fourth place on the overall medal count per country, the top three medal winning countries all having much larger teams.  The outcome of these European Championships thus represents a near 100% success for the team from the PSF UK.