BANGKOK, Oct 21 — After years (indeed centuries) of being a village sport played with ever-changing rules and under a variety of different guises in countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, sepak takraw has finally got a name – sepak meaning “kick” in Malaysian, takraw the Thai word for the traditional rattan ball. And with that name has come an international SuperSeries. Indeed this is the third such season, after ISTAF (the International Sepak takraw Federation) launched a new international competition for the elite of men’s and women’s sepak takraw in 2011.
Thailand’s men’s and women’s teams took the opening ISTAF SuperSeries in 2011/12 and 2013/14, which featured four events per season across such countries as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and India. This time around, the Thai women have continued to dominate, but the men have seen Malaysia keep pace with them. After the first three tournaments of the 2014/15 season, in Nay Pyi Taw (Myanmar), Melaka (Malaysia) and Gunsan (Korea), the Thais are just 40 points clear of Malaysia after the latter took a historic tournament victory in Melaka.
Singapore are fourth in the table, having recorded their first win over their Causeway rivals Malaysia in 50 years in Gunsan, just behind Korea in third.
The ISTAF SuperSeries 2014/15 Finals is currently underway in Nakhon Pathom, a town just west of the capital Bangkok and home to the runaway leaders of the Thai domestic league. Thailand and Malaysia, as top two seeds, have been kept apart in the preliminary stages, and should they top their respective groups, they will avoid each other in the semis as well. A winner-takes-all showdown in the final on Friday 23 October between the two would be a fitting finale, but Korea and Myanmar – the latter recent additions to ISTAF competition but a traditional powerhouse – will have something to say about that.
The top eight men’s teams are involved, making it very much a “Champions League” of sepak takraw and avoiding mismatches and blow-outs. In the women’s, it is even more the crème de la crème with just the top six involved. Thailand are red-hot favourites here in Nakhon Pathom, but Vietnam and Korea are vying for second. Malaysia, Japan and Myanmar all fancy themselves as semi-finalists however, and will be looking to finish the season on a high.
Asia Sports Ventures have launched a new website designed to cover the tournament in-depth. t features live streaming and commentary of every match, to the delight of the many hard-core fans of the sport dotted around the world, as well as match reports and feature articles. — Reuters
