Viet Nam revel in world title

22 Dec 2004, VIETNAM - Viet Nam’s pencak silat artists retained their world beating position at the martial art’s world championships that wrapped in Singapore on Sunday.

The Vietnamese team bagged eight gold, nine silver and three bronze medals, beating second-placed Malaysia, and third-placed Indonesia.

Viet Nam’s 26-member squad took part in 24 events including six seni (performance) and 18 tanding (combat).

In the tanding competition, Vietnamese artists dominated with eight gold, eight silver and a bronze, and in the seni competition they took a silver and two bronze.

"Although faced with many difficulties during the championship, our artists played with their best spirits, showing the pride of world champions," said national coach Nguyen Ngoc Anh at Noi Bai International Airport on Monday.

Ngoc Anh, 32, said as the title defenders, which they won for the past two years in Malaysia, Viet Nam showed "we are still the leading country in pentjak silat".

Le Thi Hang opened the event with a gold in the 50kg class, her teammate Le Thi Thu Huong added a gold in the 60kg division, and Le Thi Hong Ngoan took home the top prize in the heavyweight 75kg category.

The men completed a gold haul with Nguyen Ngoc Anh, in 60kg, Le Anh Tuan, in 70kg and Dinh Cong Son in the 75kg class.

Tunggal competitor Nguyen Viet Anh pulled off a perfect performance to snare gold in men’s singles, and teammates Nguyen Huy Bao, Le Quang Dung and Nguyen Dang Linh took out the team (regu) event.

The world championship attracted 250 artists from 31 countries competing in seni and tanding events.

Viet Nam is widely touted to host the 2006 World Championship, according to the national coach.

Sourced from Vietnam News at http://vietnamnews.vnanet.vn/2004-12/21/Stories/27.htm

Vietnam Remains World's Best in Pencak Silat

Vietnam had an outstanding performance at the eighth World Pencak Silat Championship in Singapore last week, topping the medal standings with eight gold, nine silver and three bronze medals.

The country took home the gold in seven men and women weight divisions as well as gold in the men's group division.

However, according to Vietnamese experts, their players would have won more gold medals if the judges had been fairer.

At the tournament, Malaysia ranked second with five gold medals and host Singapore ranked third with four gold medals. Indonesia earned two gold medals.

Meanwhile, the World Pencak Silat Federation will consider submitting a proposal for the sport to be officially included in the competition events of Asian Games 16 in 2010.

Pencak Silat is a type of kung-fu marital arts and traditionally comes from Southeast Asian country Indonesia. But for years, Vietnam has dominated the sport.

Sourced from http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-18293917_ITM

Dont' use abilities for wrong purposes, silat exponents told

BUTTERWORTH, Dec 19 (Bernama) -- Members of silat associations were today reminded to use their martial arts knowledge for the good of the people and the country.

Penang Federation of Malaysian Silat Associations (Pesaka) Datuk Azhar Ibrahim said exponents should not abuse the silat knowledge they have to create trouble and disturb the peace enjoyed by the people.

He was speaking to reporters after the opening of the Penang Silat Nusantara 2004 Carnival by the Yang Dipertua Negeri Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas at Dataran Pemuda Merdeka here today.

Some 600 silat exponents from 10 silat associations participated in the one-day carnival: Seni Silat Garuda Malaysia, Seni Silat Pusaka Gayong Malaysia, Seni Silat Cekak Malaysia, Seni Silat Gayong Malaysia, Seni Silat Melayu Asli, Seni Silat Pancaindera Lintau, Seni Silat Lincah Malaysia, Seni Silat Sendeng Tujuh, Seni Silat Sundang Pusaka and Seni Silat Gegaran Petani.

Sourced from http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-18282877_ITM

For fitness & self defence

A former sports journalist turned silat exponent is now promoting `Senaman Tua' for developing mental and physical prowess, to both local and foreign students. FAZLI IBRAHIM has the story.

A REVOLUTION HAS BEEN sweeping through some martial arts gyms in Kuala Lumpur of late.

These days, the students in their black getup are not just there to learn the basics of silat - rather they're here to exercise, thanks to a system formulated by former sports journalist Azlan Ghanie.

An exponent of Silat Lok Sembilan, a style of the Malay martial arts he inherited from his father, Azlan has taught students as far afield as the Netherlands and edits Seni Beladiri, a monthly dedicated to the Malaysian martial arts scene.

He developed an exercise system called Senaman Tua based on the movements found in Silat Lok Sembilan aimed at developing mental and physical fitness.

Each movement is based on a petua or old maxim, which can be developed into any number of variations, which in turn opens the door to endless possibilities.

"There are 1001 petua and each petua can be broken into 1001 movements." Many find it unusual since it is an exercise rooted firmly in Malay culture, just as Yoga is to Indians and Qigong to the Chinese.

In Senaman Tua, there is a lot of emphasis on regulating breathing, as well as correcting the body's posture.

The movements vary from slow and deliberate stances to faster hand and leg movements.

Someone with a grounding in the martial arts can easily turn these simple exercise movements to effective defence techniques.

More importantly, Azlan believes that through the exercises, students are able to absorb innate martial arts skills, as well as to inculcate alertness, which helps you to sense danger and ward off unnecessary confrontation.

While Senaman Tua can be studied on its own, it is also as much about preparing the body with the strength, suppleness and agility needed in Silat training sessions as well as to drill silat students in important movements.

The movements have evocative Malay names such as susun sirih or arranging betel leaves, tari piring, or saucer dance and selak dahan or parting the branches.

"If we understand the body, seronok, it is a lot of fun," he says, outlining one of Senaman Tua's purposes.

Each session is an hour long and usually precedes a Lok Sembilan training slot.

He claims that with frequent sessions, the exercises can help alleviate the symptoms of asthma, gout and even heart disease.

"Someone with a history of heart disease approached me and I told him to try it out. After two months of Senaman Tua sessions, he went for a checkup at the National Heart Institute. The doctor says his heart is now stronger," says Azlan.

The popularity if this exercise has been steadily increasing over the years, with training centres opening all over the Klang valley. An indication of its popularity is the adoption of Senaman Tua as one of the activities of the Malaysia Airlines Silat Club, based in Subang Jaya.

These days, Azlan personally instructs several Senaman Tua classes around the Klang valley, especially in Setapak, Sungai Buloh and Ampang.

He's even recorded a VCD copy of a Senaman Tua workshop and seminar and is planning a book detailing this exercise with the help of a friend.

"I hope people everywhere will one day adopt and derive benefits from Senaman Tua and see it as a contribution of Malay heritage to the world," he concludes.

Written by FAZLI IBRAHIM
Sourced from http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-18209222_ITM