RI 'pencak silat' team to tour Europe

RI 'pencak silat' team to tour Europe

JAKARTA: A nine-member Indonesian pencak silat team will tour
France, Switzerland and Belgium to promote the Indonesia-based
martial arts worldwide.

The tour is scheduled to run from March 29 through April 6,
with the entourage to carry out a demonstration of pencak silat
in Paris, where it will be one of the 20 kinds of martial arts
participating at the World Martial Arts Festival.

They will head to Switzerland on March 31 before taking part
in the three-day Belgium Open.

"This is part of our moral support to those countries,
especially in Europe, we have so far assisted in developing
pencak silat as a martial art," Eddie Nalapraya, chairman of the
Indonesian Pencak Silat Association (IPSI), said at a meeting
with National Sports Council (KONI) Chairman Agum Gumelar here on
Tuesday. --JP