Newcomer delivers gold in pencak silat

SUBIC, Philippines — The Philippines pencak silat team got off to a rousing start, capturing two medals out of three events in the opener of the 30th Southeast Asian Games pencak silat competitions yesterday here at the Subic Exhibit and Convention Center.

First-time Philippine team member Edmar Tacuel showed a glimpse of the country’s pencak silat future as he kick-started their campaign with a gold medal in the seni tunggal male category while brothers Alfau Jan and Almohaidib Abad secured the silver in the seni ganda male division.

An arnisador by nature, Tacuel did not disappoint in his debut. He posted 470 total points after scoring 296 in accuracy and 174 in the firmness criteria.

“I just joined the national team last April so I’m more than blessed and grateful to be a gold medalist in the SEA Games right away,” said the 20-year old Tacuel, who was the first product of Iloilo pencak silat program that started only seven years ago.

“This breakthrough win is for my family, for the country and for the whole Philippine pencak silat team,” added Tacuel, a son of a farmer in his hometown Tubongan, Iloilo.

Muhammad Iqbal Bin Abdul Rahman (461) of Singapore and Dino Bima Sulistianto (460 points) of Indonesia won the silver and bronze medal, respectively.

In ganda male, the Abad brothers actually displayed beautiful attack-defense technique, firmness and soulfulness but got beat in the tiebreaker by eventual gold medalist Hamid Mohd Taqiyyudin and Yuga Sazlan of Malaysia.

Both tandems finished with similar 564 points as Laos’ Khounchaleun Amphonh and Singsouvong Alisack capped off the podium with 562 points.

Meanwhile, in the regu event, the Philippines settled for 451 points to fall out of the podium with a fourth place finish behind Singapore (466), Thailand (458) and Malaysia.