MIRI: Rumpun Silat Sarawak (RSS) has refuted claims of an agreement between the team managers from Sarawak and the Federal Territories regarding a recent match result that happened last night (Aug 21).
Kamarul Ariffin, the head technical delegate for the Malaysia Games (Sukma) pencak silat, said the outcome of the match between Sarawak’s Iman Syakilla Mahdi and the Federal Territories’ Nurin Alyaa’ Damia remains unchanged.
Sarawak was behind the Federal Territories 65-70 with 14 seconds remaining, with Federal Territories awarded victory.
In a press conference after the ruckus, Kamarul added that the Federal Territories had been declared the winner based on an agreement between both coaches.
Abbas Hamzah Muhd Haneef, the secretary-general of RSS, countered this claim, asserting that there was no such agreement between the coaches from Sarawak.
In a statement delivered by Abbas in a press conference today (Aug 22) at the Miri Indoor Stadium, he called for the immediate lifting of the spectator ban at the stadium, while reinforcing the need for heightened security measures to accommodate all visitors and tourists.
“This measure will uphold the spirit of unity among silat enthusiasts across Malaysia and our neighbouring countries,” Abbas said.
He highlighted the need for technical equipment to be fully operational to ensure the smooth conduct of the competition and urged for a professional evaluation of the equipment as well as judged with intergrity.
Abbas addressed the recent tensions, clarifying that the situation was under control and that the events portrayed on social media as protests were not accurate.
Speaking on the matches on Thursday and Friday (Aug 23), he expressed RSS’ hope for a rational decision by the relevant authorities.
He also mentioned that this issue will be presented to the Sukma technical committee for further consideration.
The match between Sarawak and the Federal Territories was halted around 4.46pm on Wednesday due to a scoreboard malfunction that caused scoring errors.
Kamarul acknowledged the issue and assured it would be fixed.
Tensions escalated among fans, leading to a charged atmosphere, and the match was interrupted when spectators threw a plastic bottle and a cup onto the arena as the exponents approached the end of the bout.
To prevent further issues from happening at the time, the technical committee and match officials decided to stop the matches in both Arena One and Arena Two.
