Indonesia seeks to include pencak silat martial art into Olympic

JAKARTA, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian youth and sport ministry has striven to include the country's traditional martial art of Pencak Silat into lists of sport played in Olympic.

A senior official of the ministry Marheni D. Kusumawati disclosed that currently pencak silat martial art has spread to 93 nations with each of the countries already establishing pencak silat association.

However, the official said that there are some requirements that Indonesia has to comply with for the purpose, including administration requirement and technical requirement.

To reach the goal, the authorities would use the moment of the 18th Asian Games this year as a stepping stone in efforts to make pencak silat be played in Olympic, she said.

"We have taken initiative to share opinion with pencak silat athletes and association of pencak silat to find an accurate strategy for the inclusion of the sport into Olympic," she said.

Pencak silat will be played in the upcoming Asian Games which will be held in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta and Palembang city, provincial capital of South Sumatra province from Aug. 18 to Sept. 2 of this year.

Pencak silat is a full-body fighting from incorporating strikes, grappling and throwing in addition to weaponry. Every body part of the body is used and subject to attack. Enditem