Victorious at the Asian Games, Puspa Arumsari Hopes for Translucent Pencak Silat

Indonesian female martial arts athlete, Puspa Arumsari, won the 2018 Asian Games gold medal from the women's singles number in Padepokan Pencak Silat, TMII, Jakarta, Monday (08/27/2018). Puspa now hopes pencak silat level up and penetrate the Olympics.

"I really hope to be able to perform at the Olympics. Hope this time can display Pencak Silat in Tokyo 2020 later even if it's only an exhibition," said Puspa.

"Not only are we competing, the administrators also enthusiastically put pencak silat into the Olympics," he continued.

Pencak silat is also the first time competed in the Asian Games in this edition. Puspa hopes to introduce Indonesia through pencak silat at a higher level.

"Pencak silat is a native culture of Indonesia, so of course you want to be able to take it abroad," he continued.

However, it is not easy to realize Puspa's hopes to see martial arts through the Olympic stage. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has set a number of conditions that are quite severe so that a sport can be competed at the Olympics.

One of the conditions is that the sport must be played by at least 75 countries on four continents. As for women, it is played at least in 40 countries on three continents. The sports branch must also be able to increase the value and attractiveness of the Olympics and reflect the modern tradition of the global sports party.

Pencak silat is predicted to become a barn for Indonesian medals at the 2018 Asian Games. Currently, this branch is still dominated by countries from Southeast Asia.