MELAKA: Silat may have a bright chance of being reintroduced at the 20th Asian Games scheduled to be held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan in 2026.
Malaysian National Silat Federation (Pesaka) president, Datuk Wira Megat Zulkarnain Omardin said this was based on the solid support from the Asian Pencak Silat Federation (APSIF), which involves various countries including the host, Japan, after the event was not contested at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China previously.
He said lobbying efforts, which had been temporarily halted since a few months ago, would be reinvigorated with greater aggression once the Indonesian General Election (Pemilu) 2024 concludes this month.
"I see there's an opportunity because we've already submitted (applications) and there are still several sports events that can be considered.
"The development of silat is not only popular in Southeast Asia, but its popularity has undeniably reached regions such as West Asia, East Asia, and Central Asia, while in South Asia, we are striving to lobby for the inclusion of this self-defence art in the Asian Games in Japan in the future.
"This is the best opportunity and weapon for us to continue lobbying so that the event is reinstated in the competition at the 20th Asian Games," he said after officiating the Laksamana Putra Silat Championship at the Tun Ali Hall, Bukit Katil last night.
The last time silat was listed was at the Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games in 2018 before being dropped from the list of competitions at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou last September.
At the Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, the national silat squad failed to bring home any gold medals, only securing four silvers and four bronzes.
Since then, Pesaka has been working hard to lobby for the reintroduction of the silat event in the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya program, including raising the issue at the Asia Silat Congress in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) last November.
Megat Zulkarnain also expressed hope for the outcome of the elections, which saw the International Pencak Silat Federation (Persilat) president, Datuk Seri Prabowo Subianto, being nominated to contest the position of Indonesian president.
He said, if Prabowo is elected as the President of Indonesia, he believes that the sport of silat will continue to shine worldwide, thereby enabling the event to be placed as one of the important competitions for all world championships.