By Ahmad Nazrin Syahmi Mohamad Arif
KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 (Bernama) -- A champion’s mentality driven by inner strength - this is the ‘weapon’ of Sarawak's pencak silat team in their quest to become overall champions at the Malaysia Games (SUKMA) 2024, which will be held from Aug 17 to 24.
Sarawak's pencak silat coach Mohd Firdaus Rahmat said his athletes’ strong desire to achieve success sets them apart from their competitors.
He said that as evidence, his athletes, who need to train for eight hours every day except Sunday, also actively engage in additional training sessions between regular training periods to enhance their techniques and correct their mistakes.
"The strength of Sarawak's pencak silat team this time is our athletes’ incomparable and indomitable spirit. With the great determination to win, whether we fall, rise or do strenuous training, we still aim to achieve our target (overall champions).
"If they train three or four sessions a day, they (silat exponents) will do extra ... for example, if the training session is from 6.30 to 8.30 pm, they will do an extra 30 minutes of training to prepare for this competition," he said in an exclusive interview with Bernama at Stadium Bandaraya Miri recently.
Mohd Firdaus said that every day the Sarawak pencak silat athletes undergo a two-hour fitness session, four-hour technique training, and a two-hour video analysis session in the evening.
Meanwhile, Sarawak's pencak silat team assistant manager Mohamad Azahar Bujang is optimistic that the thorough preparation undertaken by the athletes from the Land of the Hornbills since the beginning of this year will help them mount a strong challenge in all 28 events and emerge as overall champions.
He said that among other things, the Sarawak pencak silat team had the opportunity to undergo a training camp in Thailand and held friendly matches with the Thai national team.
"Now we can aim for more gold medals and become the overall champions in pencak silat this time," he said without revealing the exact number of gold medals targeted.
Meanwhile, Sarawak's key pencak silat exponent, Asri Zakri Ibrahim, who is the son of former world pencak silat champion Zakri Ibrahim, dreams of winning gold for his state after being eliminated in the semi-finals in his debut appearance in the last edition.
He said a golden performance in SUKMA could pave the way for him to represent the country and follow in his father's footsteps, who brought glory to the nation on the world stage.
"I will do my best for Sarawak and strive hard to bring glory to Sarawak. My father said mental strength is crucial if I want to be a world champion like him. So my mental strength must be strong," said Asri, who will compete in the Men's Class E Tanding (65-70 kg).
The pencak silat competition, which offers 20 golds for the Tanding category and eight golds for the Seni category, will take place at Stadium Bandaraya Miri from Aug 18 to 23.
SUKMA 2024 will be staged in nine divisions - Kuching, Samarahan, Serian, Sri Aman, Betong, Sibu, Mukah, Bintulu and Miri.
This time, the games will feature 37 sports with 488 events, consisting of 236 men's events, 217 women's events and 35 mixed events, and is expected to gather 12,619 athletes and officials.
Introduced in 1986, SUKMA has been hosted in Sarawak twice, in 1990 and 2016.
-- BERNAMA
