PSF Report on the Belgian Open Pencak Silat Championships 2003

The Pencak Silat Federation of the UK (PSF UK) sent a small team to participate in the Open Belgian Championships, hosted by the National Pencak Silat Federation for Belgium (c).

National teams from Singapore and Malaysia were unable to participate in the Championships because of travel restrictions imposed by their governments due to the ‘SARS’ virus. As a result, only 6 European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the UK), with a total of 60 competitors took part in the Championships. As in previous Belgian Open Championships, only Tanding (fighting) contests were held, with no Seni (Arts) categories included.

The guests of honour attending the opening ceremony included H.E. Bapak Sulaiman Abdulmanan, Ambassador of the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia to Belgium, Bapak Eddie Nalapraya, President of PERSILAT and Bapak Rustadi Effendi, the Secretary General of IPSI. Also attending as a guest of honour was Bapak Haka Tahir, President of the Pencak Silat Federation for Switzerland (PSVS).

A delegation from the Indonesian Pencak Silat Federation Ikatan Pencak Silat Antarabangsa (IPSI) attended the opening ceremony as part of their tour of Europe. The IPSI delegation was led by Bapak Eddie Nalapraya, in his role as President of IPSI. The IPSI pesilat (athletes) gave a demonstration as part of the opening ceremony.


Team from IPSI performing during Opening Ceremony

As part of the ceremony Bapak Eddie Nalapraya presented a gift from PERSILAT to the Indonesian Ambassador to Belgium H.E. Bapak Sulaiman Abdulmanan to commemorate the event.

Bapak Eddie Nalapraya presenting a gift to H.E. Ambassador Sulaiman

The first fight for the UK was between Irfan Alrashid and Azim Karimov from Belgium. Azim had been successful in previous championships, and was a tough competitor, being a former soldier in his native Uzbekistan. Irfan gave a controlled and consistent performance, demonstrating good use of langkah (footwork). His opponent used an unusual guarding position, which should not be permitted in Silat competition, and made it difficult for Irfan to attack and win points. The fight was otherwise very fair, and it was clear that the competitors respected each other. Despite his excellent efforts, Irfan lost the fight overall on points to his much more experienced opponent, but took home a bronze medal.


Irfan Alrashid (UK) vs Azim Karimov (B)

The semi-finals and finals took place the following day, and the first bout in the finals was between Sean Kardar of the UK and Sylvester Pantouw from the Netherlands in Class B (50-55kg). This was Sean’s first fight at an international event and he was pitted against a much more experienced fighter. However, Sean managed to take down his opponent within the first minute of the fight and continued to build his points score by way of combinations of punches and kicks. His opponent retaliated with kicks and blows, but despite various attempts, did not manage to take Sean down. This closely matched fight was one of the best in terms of the use of proper Pencak Silat moves and langkah, and was consistently fair. In his first international competition, Sean fought with great composure, stuck to his aim to win points and won the fight and the first gold medal for the PSF UK.


Sean Kardar (UK) vs Sylvester Pantouw (NL)

The tournament concluded with the presentation of teams. Bapak Arief Suryana of the PSUD closed the arena with a Seni presentation and the taking back of the ceremonial keris from the President of the Belgian Pencak Silat Federation, Mr Ferdinand Pieters.


Gold: Sean Kardar (UK), Silver: Sylvester Pantouw (NL)	Gold: Azim Karimov (B), Silver: Bauke van Houte (NL), Bronze: Irfan Alrashid (UK) & Christian Rechsteiner (CH)