The Government of Timor-Leste, through the Secretary of State of Youth and Sports (SoSYS), said good-bye, last Monday, to ten athletes in the Silat modality (generic term to describe indigenous martial arts of the Indonesian Archipelago of Southeast Asia) that, from 17th to the 24th of July, will participate in an international event in Jakarta.
The Secretary of State of Youth and Sports’ Chief of Staff, Nino Pereira, in representation of the Secretary of State, Miguel Manetelo, pointed out in his intervention that “the Government promised to help all the Sport Federations, allowing their viability to participate in internationals events. The SoSYS assumes the duty of making the participation of the Timorese athletes possible so that Timor-Leste can register its presence in international competitions”.
On the same occasion, the Silat Modality Federation President, Custódio da Silva, reminded that “this is the second time they participate in an international event in Jakarta, the first time was in 2007. At that time, the Government, through the Secretary of State of Youth and Sports, supported them with US$2.000 and this year supports them with US$7.000. They will have to get better results, since in 2007, albeit with less resources, they managed to reach the semi-final” Custódio mentioned.
Hermenegildo, Mateus M. da Silva, Domingos da Costa Ribeiro, Ponciano da Costa Gaio, João Baptista, Heribertus Amumut, Gonçalo Dias Marques, Venâncio G. Lopes, João da Costa e Afonso N. da Silva Soares are the ten athletes that will participate in the event.