Considering the fact that this is the first competition for the team, the athletes are feeling a lot of pressure, especially with Indonesia being the host of the 2018 Asian Games.
"We will, however, continue to evaluate and motivate our athletes and hopefully they can be more relaxed during the competition," he said at the Taman Mini Indonesia Indah Pencak Silat Hermitage, East Jakarta, on Thursday.
Two Indonesian Pencak Silat athletes, Iqbal Chandra Pratama and Komang Harik Adi Putra, had previously defeated Thai and Timor Leste athletes in the big 16 elimination round.
Iqbal Chandra Pratama, who went against Thai athlete Porntep Poolkaew, was able to get five points from all five judges.
Komang Adi, who faced David No Ano Ximenes from Timor Leste, went through the match relatively quickly.
Despite such outstanding achievements, Akbar asked the athletes not to be satisfied too quickly and to continue practicing.
"Insyallah (God willing), in the second round, our athletes will be more confident and feel more liberated," he said.
There is no such thing as an easy opponent in the Pencak Silat competition, he added, as all athletes possess great capabilities.
"We do not differentiate between our opponents, one is just as tough as the other. So, this is not just for us to enjoy, we all have our targets," he concluded.
Reported by Syaiful Hakim
Edited by Aria Cindyara, Bustanudin
Reporter: antara
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
