Imagine a volleyball game in which you cannot use your hands to handle the ball but instead use your legs, chest, and head, just like football, and to land a score, you need to do a lot of acrobatic jumps to kick the ball past the net, just like volleyball. That’s what sepak takraw is.
This sport is very popular among South East Asian countries. It also has its own rules and regulations and is often contested in international games such as the Asian Games and the SEA Games.
A Little Bit of History Behind Sepak Takraw
What makes this game unique is that not only does it require a lot of legs and eye coordination skills just to play the game, but the history behind it is also quite interesting because there are a lot of disputes among Southeast Asian countries regarding which country does this game actually originated from.
For example, in Malaysia this is called “Sepak Raga” and it has been around from all the way back to the 15th century according to the famous Malay historical text titled “The Sejarah Melayu”.
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However, Thailand also has its own records saying that this game is actually based on the Chinese traditional sport named Cuju and has been around since the reign of King Naresuan of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, and the name “Takraw” is also from Thailand meaning a ball made from rattan in which Sepak Takraw plays.
A lot of other Southeast Asian countries also have their own terminology for the game, for example in Indonesia, people call this game “Sepak Rago”, “Marraga Akraga”, or “Cepak”, in the Philippines they call it “Sepa-Sepa” and in Laos, they call it “Kator”.
Now, you must be wondering which country this game is originally from? Well, to answer that question we must understand that cultural influences throughout the Southeast Asian region cannot be separated from each other, and for that the International Sepak Takraw Federation (ISTAF) decided that sepak takraw is an original Southeast Asian sport.
How does The Game Work?
Sepak takraw is somewhat of a mix between football, volleyball, and badminton because you have to use your chest, head, and legs to block, pass, or shoot the ball just like in football, how a player scores in a game is similar to volleyball, and the court shape, as well as its scoring system, is similar to badminton.
In a sepak takraw match, there are two teams which are called “Regu” and within each regu, there are three people with their own roles and two substitute players, the role of each player comprises a striker also called killer, feeder, and server or tekong.
The game itself comprises three sets with each having 21 points, to win a set of sepak takraw, a team or regu must score 21 and if the set is finished, the player changes sides just like in badminton and the losing team serves first. In a case where both regu are tied to a score of 20-20, the set will be extended to 25 points in which the team that managed to get ahead by two points wins, and the set is finished.
To win a match of sepak takraw, a regu must score a win by two sets, and if both teams have won a set, then the third set would be the tie-breaker in which only 15 points are required to win and the match is over.
Sepak Takraw in The Eyes of the World
Sepak takraw has been played in multiple international events such as the Asian Games and SEA Games as this game has huge popularity in Southeast Asian countries. However, its popularity has risen over the years as more and more people from around the world come to set their sights on this unique kind of volleyball that tends to make the spectators enthralled by the player's acrobatic moves.
ISTAF as the international governing body for sepak takraw is still trying to get this sport to be included in the Olympics, however, there are still a lot of criteria that have to be fulfilled in order for this to happen.
We might not see sepak takraw contested in the Paris Olympics 2024 but ISTAF were optimistic that in the Los Angeles Olympics 2028, sepak takraw would make its debut in the broader international sports events as more and more nations have set their sights and were interested in joining the association in which currently at 50 countries including the US, Canada, France, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, India, China, etc.
Source:
- https://www.tutorialspoint.com/sepak_takraw/index.htm
- https://www.goodnewsfromindonesia.id/2022/12/12/sepak-takraw-yang-selama-ratusan-tahun-menjadi-olahraga-orang-asia-tenggara#google_vignette
- https://sepaktakraw.ca/international-sepak-takraw-history
- https://www.paulpoole.co.th/edm/jun-jul19/sepak-takraw-a-national-sport.html
- https://sepaktakraw.ca/international-sepak-takraw-history
- https://www.aramcoworld.com/articles/2020/sepak-takraw-takes-flight
