Silat still exhibited in Pusan

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's traditional martial arts pencak silat will still be featured as an exhibition event at the Pusan 2002 Asian Games in South Korea, securing a second commitment from the organizing committee.

Reports had said earlier that the Pusan Asian Games Organizing Committee (PAGOC) refused to stage the event due to financial shortages despite an earlier agreement that the Asian Pacific Pencak Silat Federation would pay all the expenses.

"The issue was cleared at the sidelines of a meeting for secretaries-general of the Olympics Confederation of Asian (OCA) on May 9 in Seoul," federation president Oyong Karmayudha told reporters on Tuesday.

"The federation will not cost PAGOC a single cent because all of our country members will share the expenses," he added. (nvn)