J&K players shine in National Pencak Silat championship, win overall championship

Srinagar, Jan 17: J&K performed brilliantly in the 10th Sub Junior and Junior National Pencak Silat Championship 2022-23 by lifting the overall championship title at Nanded Maharashtra on Monday.

In the event that saw players from around 34 States participating, the players from J&K bagged 102 medals.

The National Championship was held at Indoor Sports Complex, Swami Ramanand Teerth University Nanded Maharashtra, from January 13 to 16. Around 1400 players from 34 States participated in the event.

J&K teams emerged as overall champions with 29 Gold, 38 Silver and 35 bronze medals while Maharashtra emerged as the runners-up in the championship and Haryana stood in the 3rd place in the overall medal tally.

Players who performed well were taken on the radar for the Indian National Camps for the forthcoming Junior Asian Championship at Tashkent Uzbekistan and Junior World and Commonwealth Championship 2023 at Singapore and other International tournaments in the coming months.

Kishor Prakash Yewale, President, Indian Pencak Silat Federation, Mohammad Iqbal, Coach Team India, Irfan Aziz Botta, Treasurer, Indian Pencak Silat Federation and other officers and officials were present on the occasion.

The championship was organised by Maharashtra Pencak Silat Association under the aegis of the Indian Pencak Silat Federation and under the banner of the Ministry of Youth affairs and sports, Govt of India and the Sports Authority of India.

Terming it great for the upliftment of Pencak Silat Sports in J&K, India Team Coach Mohammad Iqbal, said, “It is a sign that roots of this sport are getting strong in J&K. When a player performs well at a basic level, he or she is set to do well at higher levels in future”.

“I am happy to see J&K bagging the overall championship title in the event, getting better than every other team in the competition,” he said.