SEA Games: Indonesian Silat Athletes Affected by Contentious Rule

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian pencak silat athletes were affected by a controversial decision made by the judge in the 2017 South East Asian Games (Sea Games). Indonesia failed to win gold from a pencak silat number held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Thursday, August 24.

Indonesian men’s double pair Hendy and Yolla Primadona Jumpil had to be satisfied with silver after the judge award 582 points for Malaysian athletes Mohd. Taqiyuddin bin Hamid and Rosli bin Mohd Sharif. The score was far higher than 554 gained by Hendy and Yolla.

Read: Indonesia to Face Malaysia in SEA Games 2017 Men Badminton Final

Indonesian pencak silat team manager Edhy Prabowo views that the points earned by the host athletes were irregular. According to Eddy, such a high score was the first given for men’s double. The last highest score was 570.

“This is an irregular score. It has never been achieved in men’s double. But what can we do? We have to accept it. We have to shake it off because there are still 19 numbers to win,” Edhy said.

Hendy expressed his disappointment by slamming his headband. He was disheartened that the competitors could gain a perfect score with imperfect performance.

Hendy and Yolla could not contain their emotion. The manager had to calm them down, gave them pep talks, and supported the athletes who won gold in the previous SEA Games.

“They have tried their best. The public would know. We have anticipated that the host country would play dirty. But we have to accept this no matter what,” he said.

With the result, Indonesia has not yet won gold medals from pencak silat in SEA Games.

ANTARA