World Championship Beach Pencak Silat in Phuket
Pencak Silat (Andreas H / Shutterstock.com)
The “1st World Beach Pencak Silat Championship 2019” will be held from September 30 to October 4 at Patong Beach in Phuket.
Pencak silat is originally an Indonesian martial art, which, however, has many forms. I didn't know it, but on Wikipedia it is clearly explained, including in Dutch, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pencak_silat
It is therefore originally Indonesian, but is also traditionally practiced in Malaysia and Singapore. The sport has now spread all over the world, including Thailand, the Netherlands and Belgium.
The tournament on Patong Beach
Thailand has organized pencak silat tournaments before, but always indoors. This is the first major tournament to take place on the beach. The game often looks quite rambunctious, so in this case the players may wear goggles to keep sand out of their eyes.
See below a video of the 2018 Belgian Open Championships in this sport
Source: The Phuket News
About this blogger
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Bert Gringhuis (1945), born and raised in Almelo in the beautiful Twente. Later lived for many years in Amsterdam and Alkmaar, working in export for various companies. I first came to Thailand in 1980 and immediately fell in love with the country. Been back many times since then and moved to Thailand after my (early) retirement as a widower. I have been living there for 22 years now with my somewhat younger Thai lady Poopae.
My first experiences in Thailand as a kind of newsletter sent to family, friends and acquaintances, which later appeared under the name Gringo on Thailandblog. Many, many articles followed those first stories and that has grown into an almost daily hobby.
In the Netherlands still an avid footballer and football referee, but the years are starting to tell and in Thailand still avid, but the pool billiards is really of inferior quality, ha ha!
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Pencak silat has been known for many years and was introduced in the Netherlands in the sixties. Indo-Dutch and Ambonese families were mainly involved in this. In Utrecht there was a well-known gym, I thought called Terpijn and the name Pfefferkorn was then one of the leading people in this sport. In the nightlife scene I knew several young people personally. The terms kabudaan Indonesia and setia hati (faithful heart) have stayed with me. At the time I was part of the Dutch karate team led by coach Rob Zwartjes, who became world champion in 1977 in Los Angeles. This (Malaysian) martial art is derived from various dances and is based on the triangle position. There was also a lot of training with the sais (sikoe, sikoe) triangle position and sword and stick. Many low basic positions and very graceful in the movements. I also took some classes myself in the early 70's, but for me personally it was too much show moves and I found it less effective. I didn't have the figure for it either, I must admit. I'm more of a straight forward and no frills kind of thing. But it is a spectacle to see.
Trained with Frits Vermaesen. First at Mercatorplein (Asd) later school went to Badhoevedorp. Training with Hugo Houtzagers, Johnny Block and Jesse Coomen. Indeed with Sikou Sikou, chain, short and long stick, knives. Style Setia Hati. I think there was little love between Frits Vermaesen and Ben Turpijn. Frits could sometimes become fanatical and then let himself be hit with all his might with a Sikou, which blow he then briefly absorbed with his forearm. Very graceful indeed. Too bad I won't be until Oct 5th. arrive in Thailand.